


Summer Camp

by Sollux_Kleinman



Series: Conman/Kleinphy AUs [1]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Angst, Bonfires, Camping, Crying, Evan being a great friend, F/M, Fluff, Gay Connor Murphy (Dear Evan Hansen), Kissing, M/M, Makeup, Pining, Scary Stories, Slight Jalana?, Spin the Bottle, Summer Camp, Swearing, Swimming, Yelling, Zoevan, conman, kleinphy, pansexual jared kleinman, scavenger hunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-03-24 19:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 30,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13817985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sollux_Kleinman/pseuds/Sollux_Kleinman
Summary: Jared is forced to go to a summer camp, where he falls in love with his bunkmate.





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> I believe this is going to be a full story, I will try to update often.

Jared couldn't believe his parents were making him go to this stupid camp in the middle of no where. Not only was he stuck here for the entirety of his summer, but his cell phone and video games weren't allowed. What the hell was he supposed to do? Crafts? Hiking? Those were on the bottom of Jared's to do list by far, he'd rather spend his summer cooped up in his room playing on his Xbox until 3 am or maybe gouging his eyes out.

Both of those options sounded better than this.

The car finally pulled into a driveway, which was bumpy with potholes and dirt mounds. Jared sunk lower in his seat; he considered refusing to get out of the car. Jared's dad parked in front of the registration office and turned to smile at him.

"Here we are, champ." He grinned, running a hand through his dark hair. It was clear that he was aware Jared didn't want to be here. His mom, however, was oblivious to this. 

"Ready for your awesome summer adventure?" She beamed, hopping out of the car.

"Yeah, sure." Jared grumbled, peeling himself off the leather car seat and stepping out into the blinding sun. Jared shielded his eyes, mumbling a string of curse words. His parent's lead him into the registration office, which turned out to also be the cafeteria. 

Goody.

There was no line, which  Jared was a bit grateful for. A lady at the desk gestured them over and gave Jared a brief instruction of where everything was, though he was completely tuned out. As soon as his parents began filling out paperwork, he heard the door open again behind him. Turning back, he saw a familiar face.

"Evan?" He almost demanded. Evan gave him a small wave.

"Hi Jared." Evan smiled, taking a small step closer. 

"See? Jared's here, so you have a friend." Heidi said excitedly, walking over to Jared's parents to fill out Evan's paperwork. 

"Yeah." Evan echoed, fiddling with the strap of his duffel bag. "Jared, I didn't think you really liked outdoor summer camps?"

"Trust me, I'm not here by choice." Jared sighed, crossing his arms.

"Jared." His father glared, warning him. Jared rolled his eyes so his father couldn't see.

"You don't strike me as the camp type either, Ev." Jared shrugged. "I figured you'd be working to save up some money, so why are you here?" 

"Well, first off they have the most amazing nature program." Evan's eyes lit up as he pulled a brochure for the camp out of his bag. "Nature hikes, canoeing, horseback riding, there's even going to be a week where we learn about all the different types of trees!"

"Man, that sounds lame." Jared chuckled, snatching the brochure to check it out. 

"Jared, come here. They need you to sign some of the papers." His mom called. 

After signing what felt like a thousand contracts that made sure the camp wouldn't get sued if he died, his parents left. After his mother had thoroughly kissed every inch of his face of course. 

Gross.

So, he was left on his own. Except that he was with Evan. And the rest of the counselors and campers. But that just wasn't dramatic enough for Jared. 

"Where's our cabin?" Jared asked, unfolding a map of the campsite. 

"Well, uh, the cabins are separated by age and gender so we'd be in this region, I think." Evan gestured to a cluster of cabins on the map. "Um, I think it would be cabin F."

"The 'F' stands for fucking awful." Jared folded the map back up and tucked it into his back pocket. He threw his backpack on and began the small walk to the cabin. God, he'd have to take a goddamn hike every day just to eat. Evan trailed after him, enjoying the trees that surrounded the path. 

"Jared, the activities haven't even begun yet and you already don't like it here." Evan said, nearly tripping over a rock. He caught his balance before he face planted onto the gravel.

"Yeah, have you taken a look around?" Jared snarled, clenching his fists. "I'm stuck here in the middle of the woods with no internet connection!" 

"Maybe you'll have fun." Evan said in a small voice, looking down at his feet. Jared walked in angry silence until they reached the cabin. It was perched on top of a hill, away from all the other cabins. However, it wasn't just isolated, it was less than a quarter of the size of the other cabins.

"Why?" Jared took a deep breath. "Why the fuck is our cabin so goddamn tiny-" Jared flung the door open in rage and was met face to face with another boy. Jared stumbled back, almost running into Evan.

"Watch where you're going." The boy glared, stepping out of the cabin. He pushed past Jared and Evan, making his way down the trail.

"Hey, is that that Connor Murphy kid?" Evan whispered, grabbing Jared's arm. 

"Oh yeah, I suppose you're right." Jared shrugged Evan's hand off his arm, watching Connor stride down the trail. Jared almost didn't recognize the boy when he wasn't wearing all black, and he was wearing cargo shorts...

"Well, I suppose we should unpack." Evan walked inside the cabin, gazing around the room. Jared stepped in after him, the smell of dust and sweat hitting him. Does anyone ever clean this place? There were only two bunk beds, which were each on different sides of the room.

"Holy shit, do they hate us or something?" Jared fumed, stepping onto a crumpled piece of paper. He picked it up from the floor, reading it. It was from one of the counselors, explaining that they got this cabin because of the lack of older kids in the camp. "Glad Connor just left this on the floor for us." He mumbled.

"This one's mine." Evan said, claiming the top bunk of the bed that wasn't occupied. 

He had two choices, sleep under Evan or sleep under Connor. 

Sleep under the kid that tossed in his sleep and would probably form some kind of unwanted emotional attachment to him or sleep under the cute, mysterious asshole. 

Jared opted for the cute, mysterious asshole and shoved his bag onto the bed. At least Connor wouldn't try to cuddle if he had a nightmare. Though Jared doubted anything could scare that boy.

"You don't want to sleep under me?" Evan asked, his head appearing from his top bunk. 

"I'm sorry Ev, but I'm not gay." Jared snorted, not looking up from making his bed. It wasn't a complete lie. Jared wasn't gay, he was pansexual. Evan made a face and disappeared again to make out with trees or something. Jared laughed to himself, that was a funny thought. 

After he finished making his bed, a counselor arrived at the cabin to inform them that there would be a little meeting before they all ate dinner, then they would get more time to relax and unpack. They would also be allowed to stay alone, considering they were nearly eighteen. Jared could already imagine the awesome pranks he would play on Evan. 

They were lead down to the cafeteria. Fortunately the other cabins appeared to have much more people. Maybe if he could just make some new friends it wouldn't be so bad-

"Jared! Evan!" A high voice sounded from one of the tables. Jared snapped out of his daze, glancing around for the source of the voice. It was Alana, a girl from his school. She sat at the far end of one table next to Connor and Zoe.

"Hey." Jared slumped down into the seat across from Connor. Evan sat down next to him. 

"I can't believe there are so many of us from our school!" Alana squealed, leaning forward excitedly. "This summer is going to be amazing, we're all going to have so much fun!" Connor grunted in response, slouching back. Jared glanced over at Evan, who seemed to be a sweatier than he was a second ago. Evan's gaze was fixed down, his face a bright red. Jared didn't even want to know, so he turned his attention to the counselor that was standing at the front of the room, waiting for them to quiet down. After a few moments and a couple campers telling the others to shut up, he began to speak.

"Hello everyone! I'm Greg!" He beamed, tightly clutching his clipboard. "I'm the head counselor, so if you have any questions you can always talk to me! You'll mostly be spending time with the people in your cabin-" Jared was tired of listening to this guy, he spoke with too many exclamation points. Besides, he could just get a recap of the speech from Evan later. 

Jared glanced over a Connor and let out a sigh. He was going to be spending lots of time with Connor, it couldn't hurt to fantasize about him? It might even make his summer a little better. The idea was already soothing him, the thought of Connor tugging him close and roughly kissing him. Hell, Connor even had on a sweet bad boy leather jacket in his daydream. The feel of Connor's hot breath-

"Why the fuck are you staring at me?" Jared snapped out of his daydream, a bit confused.

"Oh, um-" Jared started, trying to get his thought process straight. In more than one way.

"Creep." Connor growled, his eyes cutting into Jared. 

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare." Jared managed to choke out. At least he didn't say anything humiliating. "I was just spacing out, this is so boring." Connor seemed to relax just slightly.

"Yeah, it fucking sucks here." Connor shrugged. "But at least it's far away from my parents."

"No talking please!" Greg interrupted them, then continued on. Jared rolled his eyes, earning a chuckle from Connor.

Maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad after all.


	2. The Bonfire

Back at the cabin, Jared was able to fully unpack his bag and hide his secret stash of snacks under the bed. He flopped down in his bed, watching Evan and Connor continue to put things away.

"Hey Ev, I really like those purple under garments you got there." Jared snickered, watching as Evan quickly shoved the boxer shorts into a drawer.

"They're probably nicer than the crusty underwear you probably have on." Connor smirked, hopping off the top bunk.

"That's implying I have underwear on!" Jared wiggled his eyebrows. Evan made a disgusted face from across the room.

"I agree with Evan, no one wants to know what you are wearing under your jeans." Connor grabbed a hairbrush from his dresser and began to comb through his hair.

"Anyone would be lucky to know what I'm wearing under my jeans!" Jared said defensively, sitting up.

"The word you're searching for is unfortunate." Connor laughed. Jared couldn't tell if Connor was joking with him or making fun of him. 

"Jerk." Jared stuck his tongue out at Connor.

"Are you guys almost ready for the bonfire?" Evan asked them, pulling on a secondhand pair of tennis shoes his mom had given to him as a goodbye gift, he was very proud of them.

"I suppose." Jared swung his feet off the bed and slipped into a pair of flip flops.

"Flip flops?" Connor asked in disgust. "Jared it's dark out there, you'll trip and get a mouthful of dirt."

"My mouth's already filthy." Jared shrugged, heading for the door. "Let's go, it's gonna take forever for us to walk there." Connor rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath about how Jared was going to regret his shoe choice. Jared opened the door, letting Connor and Evan walk through first. 

The three walked in silence through the dark woods. Jared began to wish he had brought a sweatshirt. He rubbed his arms, relieved when they finally arrived at the campfire. Jared sat between Connor and Evan and listened in boredom as everyone told crappy horror stories. 

"-and it ate him!" One of the younger boys shrieked, ending his story. Evan jumped and grabbed Jared's arm. Jared rolled his eyes,

    "C'mon Ev, it's not even a good scary story." Jared frowned.

"Yeah, I can tell you guys some horrifying ones later." Connor grunted, trying to sound unamused, but Jared could see an odd excitement in his eyes.

"That'd be awesome." Jared grinned, shaking Evan off of him. "We have to toughen Ev up somehow."

"Or we could not." Evan added in a small voice.

"What's the fun in that?" Jared turned back to the other kids, staying quiet for the rest of the stories, except for a few sarcastic remarks. 

After the stories were finished, they were allowed to each have one s'more before heading back to their cabins. Jared complained that they wouldn't need to ration the s'mores if they were allowed to bring their own snacks, but mostly everyone else just ignored him.

It was nearly eleven when they started walking back to the cabin. The trees blocked out any light from the moon, so the three were stumbling around in pitch blackness.

"I wish I would've brought a flashlight down with us." Evan sighed, leading the way through the woods as he was the most careful. 

Jared opened his mouth to make a snarky remark when his foot caught on a stone and sent him tumbling to the ground. Luckily, he was able to catch himself before he face planted into a pile of rocks. That wouldn't have been fun. Behind him, he heard Connor snicker.

"What did I fucking tell you?" He asked, reaching down and grabbing Jared by the scruff of his shirt. He quickly pulled Jared up and set him back on his feet. 

"Well you weren't completely right, I didn't get a mouthful of dirt." Jared stuck his tongue out, positive Connor couldn't see it in the dark. 

"That can be arranged." Jared heard Connor bend down and grab a handful of soil. Jared shrieked, pushing past Evan and making a mad dash towards the cabin. Connor ran after him, laughing. 

"Guys, wait for me!" Evan called, following behind them. When he finally caught up to the other two, Jared had locked himself inside the cabin with Connor hovering outside. 

"You can't hide in there forever, Kleinman." Connor was panting from the chase. 

"Watch me." Jared hummed from inside.

"You have to let us in, we sleep in there!" Connor pounded on the door.

"Jared, can I come in?" Evan asked from behind Connor. 

"No, because you'll let him in." Jared glanced around the room. "Hey Connor, what did you pack?" 

From outside, Connor heard a drawer open.

"Stay the fuck out of my stuff, Kleinman, or you'll really get it." Connor pounded harder on the door. "Fuck, Jared, truce?"

"Does that mean you won't rub dirt in my face when I let you in?" Jared walked over to the door.

"Yeah, sure, I guess." Connor sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Just let us in." Connor heard a click and the door opened. Jared stood there, his arms crossed and a large black scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Why'd you pack a scarf?" Jared giggled, fiddling with it. 

"I told you not to touch my stuff-" Connor fumed, storming over and grabbing one end of the scarf, yanking on it. Jared's head was jerked down before the scarf unwrapped from his neck. 

"Ow, what the hell?" Jared stepped back, rubbing his neck. Connor shoved the scarf back in it's drawer, slamming it shut with a loud bang. Connor paused for a second, taking a deep breath. 

"I'm sorry, just, please don't touch my stuff." He said quietly. "I'm going to take a shower."


	3. Horror and Kisses

    After Connor got back from the shower, Evan went to take one, leaving the two alone for a bit. Jared sat on his bunk, having already changed into his pajamas, if you could call them that. His "pajamas" were really just a pair of old sweatpants. Jared watched Connor silently as the taller boy combed his hair. After a long moment, Jared spoke up.

    "I'm sorry I touched your stuff." He said quietly.

    "No problem." Connor shrugged. Jared was a bit surprised at that reply, earlier Connor had practically yelled at him for going through his drawer, and now he was cool with it? Jared could've let out a frustrated sigh right there, was Connor only pretending to like him? Was he going to get Connor's wrath when he least expected it? 

    Jared was getting more worked up over this than he would've liked. After all, Connor was just his bunk mate for the summer. Nothing else. No matter how much Jared liked imagine Connor holding his hand and kissing him-

    Woah, now he was flustered. Suddenly realizing he was shirtless in front of Connor, he scrambled to grab a shirt. He didn't care if it was uncomfortable to sleep in, as long as Connor wasn't looking at his bare chest. 

    The mood in the room lightened drastically when Evan came back from the shower.

    "Hey, you two still up for some real horror stories?" Connor grinned excitedly.

    "Hell yeah!" Jared pumped his fist in the air. 

    "I dunno, it's pretty late." Evan fiddled with his pajama shirt.

    "Laaame!" Jared snickered, climbing off his bunk. "You're just a scaredy-cat~" 

    "No I'm not!" Evan stood up a bit straighter. "Er, okay then, I'll listen."

    "Good." Connor smirked, flicking off the light, which earned a terrified squeak from Evan. Connor turned on the flashlight he had in his hand. 

    The three gathered in a circle, and Connor proceeded to tell his story. By the end, Evan was curled up into a ball, hugging his knees. Even Jared was a bit jumpier, though he'd die before he admitted it.

    "The end." Connor chortled, clearly proud of his story. 

    "That was amazing." Jared clapped Connor on the back before glancing around the room nervously. 

    "You okay, Evan?" Connor asked, prodding the boy with his foot. When he didn't reply, Connor and Jared exchanged a look.

    "Um, Ev-" Jared started before he was cut off by a loud banging at the door. Jared could hear Evan beginning to sob loudly into his knees.

    "Chill, guys." Connor stood up and made his way over to the door. "It's nothing-" The banging started again, this time it sounded more aggressive. Jared curled up next to Evan, throwing an arm around his shoulder and allowing the boy to cry into his chest. 

    Connor rolled his eyes before throwing the door open, revealing Alana and Zoe, looking very annoyed.

    "I was starting to think we were at the wrong cabin." Zoe huffed, stepping in. "Why aren't the lights on?" 

    "I was busy trying to scare the shit out of these two." Connor grumbled, flicking the lights on. The girls turned their attention to Jared and Evan, who was now trying to hide the fact that he was crying. Jared took his arm back, letting it fall to his side. 

    "What the hell are you guys doing here?" Jared asked, getting up from the floor. 

    "We decided to drop by and hang out!" Alana said excitedly. "I was nervous about breaking the rules at first, but the walk over was really fun!" Zoe walked over and sat down next to Evan, she nudged him with her elbow.

    "Figured we could have some fun, play some games." She smiled.

    "Why can't you do that in your own cabin." Connor snorted, slamming the door shut. 

    "Here sounded like more fun." Zoe glared at Connor. "Do you have an issue with that?" Connor grunted in response, walking over to the others.

    "So, what games did you have in mind?" Jared asked, noticing Evan had calmed down greatly.

    "Seven minutes in heaven?" Zoe asked hesitantly.

    "We don't have a closet." Jared pointed out.

    "Damn, you're right. How about spin the bottle?" Zoe tried.

    "We don't have a bottle-" Jared began.

    "Actually, we do." Connor's eyes lit up as he walked over to their bunk bed. He leaned down and pulled out Jared's backpack full of his secret snacks.

    "Hey!" Jared stormed over, trying to grab his pack. Connor easily held it over the smaller boy's head as he grabbed a bottle of Mountain Dew from it. He dropped the backpack as soon as he had what he wanted. Jared stuffed the bag under his bed before reaching at the soda bottle. 

    "That's mine!" Jared shrieked. "I was saving it!"

    "That sucks." Connor said nonchalantly. "We need it for the game, so either you chug it or I do." 

    "Fine." Jared grumbled, snatching up the bottle and opening it. "I don't know what I want yet, but you owe me one." Jared's mind had a quick vision of Connor kissing him before he put that thought out of his mind.

    "Gladly." Connor rolled his eyes. Jared was able to quickly down the soda before setting it down in the middle of the circle. He only had a moment to mourn the waste of sugar before the others began deciding who went first. 

    "Let's just let the bottle decide." Zoe reached out and spun the Mountain Dew bottle, it landed on Alana. 

    "Alright, 'Lana, you go first." Jared smiled, leaning back onto the leg of the bed. 

    "Here I go then." Alana let out a nervous laugh before giving the bottle a whirl. After a second, it stopped, pointing at Connor. Alana blushed, looking down at the floor. Connor crawled over to her. 

    "Let's do this." He leaned in close to Alana, who hesitated before closing in the gap. Jared felt his stomach twist with jealously as he watched them share a quick kiss. After only a couple seconds, Connor pulled away, wiping his mouth and sitting back where he was. 

    "Nice!" Jared whistled at them, trying to hide his annoyance. Alana was grinning stupidly, clearly speechless. 

    "Your turn, Zoe." Connor hummed. Zoe reached out and spun the bottle. She twirled it with much more certainty than Alana did, so it spun around for much longer before landing on Evan. 

    "Ev, you lucky dog." Jared laughed, but Evan didn't look as enthusiastic as Jared. Instead, he looked terrified, how was it that this made him look more scared than when Connor had told them that horror story?

    "Are you ready, Evan?" Zoe asked, a sounding a bit concerned. 

    "Um, yeah." Evan sat up, straightening out his shirt. "What do I do, do I just-" Evan froze when Zoe leaned in close, pressing their lips together. 

    Connor looked over at Jared, making a disgusted face. Jared couldn't help but chuckle. 

    This kiss lasted a lot longer than Alana and Connor's. Jared was considering breaking them apart when the two finally pulled away from the kiss, both looked flushed as they stared into each other's eyes for another second.

    "Hate to interrupt your love-making." Jared teased. "But we have a game going on." Connor snorted in agreement. 

    "That was part of the game." Zoe huffed, scooting away from Evan, who was still dumbstruck from the kiss. 

    "I feel like you were getting too into it though." Connor grumbled under his breath. "I'm just going to spin." He reached out and twirled the bottle. After a long spin, it landed on Evan.

    Jared could've screamed, why did everyone else get to kiss Connor but not him?

    "You up for this, Evan?" Connor asked, giving Zoe a smug glance. 

    "Oh, um, sure." Evan was still dazed from his first kiss, but he managed to lean close to Connor, who pressed a small kiss to Evan's cheek. 

    "I think that's good enough." Connor smiled, pulling away from Evan. Jared certainly wasn't about to argue with that. Evan nodded, sitting back down and stealing a glance at Zoe. 

    "I guess that makes it Jared's turn, right?" Alana asked, giving Jared a smile.

    "Yep, you guys better prepare yourself for me." Jared gave the group a sly smirk before spinning what was supposed to be his mountain dew. Jared waited with anticipation as the bottle spun, praying to every god he could think of that it would land on Connor while also hoping it wouldn't. The bottle finally stopped, pointing right at Connor. 

    Jared let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. He looked up at Connor, feeling a his face go red. Oh god, don't blush, don't let them them know you're embarrassed, just act cool. Jared cleared his throat.

    "Ah, looks like you're the lucky guy." Jared gave him a sheepish smile, not daring to make the first move.

    "Looks like it." Connor let out a small laugh, shifting so he towered over Jared. Jared could feel his heart speed up as he unintentionally moved closer to Connor. 

    "Get on with it!" Zoe teased, and Jared suddenly became very aware that everyone else was going to watch him kiss Connor, what if they figured out that he liked guys? 

    "Here goes nothing." Connor licked his lips before placing his hands on the back of Jared's head and pulling him into a kiss. Connor's lips tasted like toothpaste, and Jared couldn't tell if it contrasted or complimented the Mountain Dew taste of his own mouth. Jared melted into the kiss, letting himself lean on Connor. 

    Connor pulled away before Jared had gotten enough, though he didn't know how he could ever have enough. Connor gave a laugh and slumped back to where he was sitting, leaving Jared cold and wishing he was able to curl up next to him. 

"Nice one!" Zoe chuckled, lightly hitting Jared's shoulder. Jared didn't acknowledge her, instead focusing on how his lips still tingled. He didn't want to wipe the saliva off his lips, that would mean the end of the best thing he's ever done. 

"Shut up, Zoe." Connor rolled his eyes. Jared felt his heart sink, of course Connor didn't like him, after all, they were just playing a game.

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm a bit tired." Jared stood up, facing away from everyone else so they couldn't see his bottom lip start to tremble. 

"Yeah, me too." Evan chimes in, just as eager as Jared to get out of this.

"I suppose that means we should head back." Alana sighed. "Though it was fun hanging out with you guys! We should make a weekly plan to meet up." Jared climbed into bed as the girls shuffled out. Soon after, Connor shut off the light and climbed into the bunk above Jared. 

It was completely silent in the cabin, and after lying there for nearly an hour, Jared couldn't tell if he couldn't sleep because he could hear Connor's breathing above him or because of Connor's horror story. 

The wind outside gave one rather strong blow and a branch hit at the side of the cabin. Jared let out a small squeak and covered himself in his blankets. Above him, he swore he heard Connor let out a chuckle.

Jared didn't get much sleep that night.


	4. Hearts and Crafts

    "Jared, wake up." Evan nudged the sleeping boy. "Jared, you're going to be late for breakfast."

    "I don't care." Jared groaned, curling into a ball and covering himself in his blankets. 

    "Jared, it's six, if we don't go soon we'll be late and then we won't get to eat till lunch." Evan sighed. Jared muttered something about the snacks under his bed.

    "Here, I'll get him up." Connor strode across the room to where Jared laid. He lifted up his foot and kicked Jared clean off the bed. Jared landed on the floor with another groan, but otherwise curled himself up more in his blanket and resumed sleep.

    "That didn't work..." Evan frowned.

    "For god's sake, Jared." Connor walked around the bed to the smaller boy. "Get the fuck up." He nudged him with his foot, Jared shied away from Connor, afraid of being kicked again. 

    "Let's just go, I don't want to be late." Evan was shifting from foot to foot nervously.

    "Yeah, Jared can catch up later." Connor snickered, grabbing his bag. Jared sat up suddenly, frowning.

    "You cannot ditch THE Jared Kleinman." Jared stood up and began to get ready. "I'm the one that's supposed to ditch you guys, not the other way around." Connor rolled his eyes. 

    "It's not ditching if the people were glad you left." He smiled, crossing his arms as he waited for Jared. 

    "Fuck off." Jared pulled on his shirt and glanced in the mirror, ruffling his hair so it looked just right. He slipped on his glasses. "Let's go."

    "Aren't you gonna brush your teeth?" Evan asked in disgust.

    "Oh yeah, hold on." Jared snatched up his toothbrush and quickly brushed his teeth. 

    "Oh my God, Kleinman." Connor huffed. "I can't believe you weren't gonna brush your teeth."

    "Jesus, why is everyone so judgy this morning?" Jared asked, throwing his toothbrush on the dresser and spitting into a garbage can. 

    "Just move it along." Connor shifted impatiently.

    "Okay, okay, let's go."  Jared said. Evan held the door open for the other two as he rushed them out.

After walking for more than Jared would've liked considering he hadn't been awake for too long, they finally arrived at the cafeteria. They were serving what Jared thought was supposed to be an omelette.

Joy.

Jared grabbed a tray and went through the long line of hungry, tired teenagers who looked just as enthused to be here as he did. He got his soggy omelette and threw himself down onto a bench next to Alana and Zoe. Connor and Evan soon joined them.

"Good morning, Jared." Alana chimed cheerfully, cutting into her omelette with her knife.

"I beg to differ." Jared grumbled, not bothering with utensils and instead grabbing his food with his hands, earning a disgusted look from the group.

"Kleinman, you have a perfectly good fork right there." Connor raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fuck that, all food should be finger food." Jared shrugged, shoving a rather large chunk of the omelette into his mouth. 

"Jared, there's probably a lot of germs-" Evan began before one of the councilors (Jared thought his name was Greg, maybe?), cleared his throat at the front of the room.

"Ev, keep talking and maybe he'll just never speak." Jared whispered.

"Alright everyone! It's the first day of camp so we're going to get everyone situated!" Greg paced back and forth, hell, his pacing was even making Jared a bit nervous. "So, we're gonna split you folks up into groups for the activities, but remember, these groups are permanent! You're going to have to compete with the other groups and at the end of the summer the winners will each get their very own backpack!"

Jared didn't know how anyone could take this guy seriously.

"This year's group theme will be animals!" Greg flipped a page on his clipboard. "Alright, let's get you split up, group one is called the tigers! This team consists of Katie Anderson, Jade Coleman, Evan Hansen, Dave Johnson, Jenna Lane and Zoe Murphy." Jared watched as his table mates made their way over to meet with their group.

"See you guys at lunch." Evan gave them a small wave before scampering after Zoe.

After ten more minutes, Jared, Connor, and Alana still weren't sorted into a group. Finally, only a handful of kids remained.

"Last but not least, the sponges!" Jared heard Connor mutter something profane under his breath. "This group consists of Alana Beck, Jake Carlson, Tallula Harley, Jared Kleinman, Connor Murphy, and Preston Stone."

The six teenagers awkwardly shuffled together to form a weird, usual group.

"I guess I should introduce myself, I'm Alana Beck." Alana reached out and shook the hands of the other members of the group. "Oh, these are my friends, Connor and Jared." Connor only gave a small grunt while Jared bothered with a head nod.

"Alright, sponges, I'll be your group councilor!" A voice sounded from behind them, but Jared knew that exclamation point anywhere, Greg was their group councilor. Beside him he felt Connor stiffen.

"It looks like our first group activity will be arts and crafts." Greg smiled, leading them out the door. Jared spotted Zoe and Evan in their group, heading towards the woods.

"I can't believe we're the fucking sponges." Connor huffed, taking up the rear of the group with Jared. Alana was up at the front asking Greg questions.

"What kinds of crafts are we doing today?" Alana said from the front. "I hope we get to make bracelets, the one I made at my last camp broke a couple months ago and I haven't had the time to fix it."

"Actually, we are making cards today!" Greg returned her enthusiasm. 

"Why are we sending cards home? It's the first day." One of the other campers snorted.

"Well you don't have to send them home, give them to your new camp buddies!" Greg beamed, stopping at a picnic table with multi-colored paper and paints across it. "You're welcome to use all of the materials here, just remember to put it back when you're done and clean up your mess!" Jared flopped down at a spot on the table, Connor sat across from him.

"This is so exciting!" Alana sat down next to Jared. "I'm going to make one for each of you!"

"Do I really have to make a card?" Connor frowned, grabbing a black sheet of paper. 

"How the hell do you plan on making a card with black paper?" Jared snorted, grabbing a red piece.

"It's paint, dumbass, it doesn't matter." Connor rolled his eyes. Jared stuck out his tongue before staring down at his sheet of paper. Who should he make one for?

"First I'm going to make a purple one for Zoe, since we're bunkmates." Alana folded the paper in half and grabbed a paint brush.

    Should he make one for Connor? No, Connor would think that was dumb... Wait, what if he gave it to him ironically?

    Jared shrugged to himself, that could work. He folded the paper over and began to paint patterns on the front of the card.

    "Who are you making a card for?" Connor asked, he wasn't even really making a card, he was just splattering paint onto paper.

   "Um, it's my dog's birthday this week and I thought I should send him a card." Jared groaned internally. Seriously, he couldn’t come up with a better lie than that? 

“That’s fucking weird.” Connor said nonchalantly as he smeared blue paint with his finger across the paper.

Jared looked down at the card he was making and realized instantly he couldn’t give it to Connor. First off, the card had way too many hearts on it to be considered even remotely platonic. The moment anyone saw this they’d laugh him off the face of the planet. Jared tucked the card away so no one could see it and started making one for his imaginary dog. His parents will be confused when they get this card.

Oh well.

Jared drew a cute little dog on the cover, and the inside said “Happy Birthday Buddy!” with little paw prints around the text. Connor glanced over at his card.

“Your dog’s name is Buddy?” He asked, wiping the wet paint from his hands on his pants.

“Yeah, he’s a purebred German Shepherd.” Jared nodded, suddenly wishing he would’ve chosen a different lie.

“Big dog.” Connor whistled. “How old is he turning?”

“Um, 4.” Jared lied, looking down at his card and fiddling with it. 

“Jared, you have a German Shepherd?” Alana beamed. “So do I!”

“Oh, that’s great.” Jared said, avoiding eye contact.

“Where did you get it from?” Alana asked.

“Um,” Oh shit, Jared didn’t know any breeders. “The, uh, animal shelter.”

“Wait, I thought you said he was purebred?” Connor asked.

“Did I?” Jared chuckled nervously, fiddling with his collar. “Well, I guess I misspoke.” Connor raised an eyebrow at him, giving Jared a knowing smirk that made him sink down in his seat.

“You’re fucking weird, Kleinman.” Connor said smugly before continuing to play with the paint on his paper. Alana also resumed her work. Jared let out a small sigh, that was kind of a save.

After finishing their cards and a couple of self portraits Greg made them do so he could hang them up in the lobby area, the group headed to lunch. The moment Jared arrived at the cafeteria he threw away the card, he didn’t need anyone finding that on him. Behind him, he heard Evan.

“Why’d you throw away one of your cards?” He asked, stepping towards the garbage can.

“Oh, it was just a mess up, no big deal.” Jared lied, trying to inch away. 

“I wanna see it.” Evan smiled. “Good thing it’s still on top.” He snatched the card off the top of the garbage, opening it.

“No, don’t-“ Jared panicked, grabbing at the card. Evan scrunched up his face as he read the card.

“Jared, what is this?”


	5. The Scavenger Hunt

"It's nothing!" Jared squeaked, finally getting a hold of the card and tearing it to pieces. No one should have proof that Jared Kleinman had feelings.

Especially feelings for Connor Murphy.

"But, it was a love letter!" Evan's eyes lit up, though he was careful to give Jared space. 

"No, it wasn't. You saw nothing." Jared threw the pieces of the card into the trash can. 

"But, but." Evan began, but Jared pressed a finger to the boy's lips.

"I swear to god if you tell anyone about this I will tell Zoe about the time in the school library-" Jared hissed before being cut off by Evan.

"Okay! Okay, I swear, I won't tell anybody." Evan said quietly, turning very red faced. "But, can you tell me about it?"

"No! I don't want to talk about it!" Jared backed away from Evan before turning on his heel and storming off into the lunch line. He was shaking, not from anger at Evan, but because he had fucked up. Now someone knew, now he could be exposed at any minute and Connor would hate him, now-

"Hey." Connor was at the end of the lunch line, waiting for Jared.

"Hey." Jared tried to say nonchalantly. Evan came up behind them to wait in line, he was particularly silent. 

Good. Maybe he really won't tell anyone.

Jared got an over cooked hamburger for lunch and slunk down in a seat, being careful not to sit near Connor. Conversation continued as usual at the table, no one except Evan noticing Jared's sudden silence. 

After they were finished eating they were forced outside and into their groups again in order to do a scavenger hunt. Jared wasn't very interested, what was the point in picking through the woods to find useless objects? Each group was handed a list of materials they needed to gather. 

    "Alright, the first group to find all the items on their list and arrive here first wins their very own pizza party!" Greg clapped his hands excitedly. Jared watched as all of the campers seemed to perk up. Hell, it was only the first day and already Jared was sick of the food here. Beside him, he saw Connor glance over at Zoe, they shared a competitive look. 

Hell, this just got a LOT more interesting.

Jared snatched the list of items out of another one of his group mate's hands. 

Pine cone, heart shaped rock, an acorn, a purple flower, a piece of litter, and a feather.

That didn't seem too hard to Jared. He glanced up and noticed a lot of the other teams were already running towards the woods. Connor suddenly grabbed Jared and dragged him along towards the woods, hardly paying attention to the rest of the group.

"We gotta hurry, we're going to win." Connor said firmly as Jared tried to get him to slow down so he could get his bearings.

"Wait up, guys!" Alana called, the rest of their group at her heels. 

"We don't have time to wait, we have to win!" Connor threw over his shoulder as he continued to pick up his pace. Jared was having trouble keeping up at this point. After all, Connor was tall and had long legs, Jared, however, did not. 

"Please slow down-" Jared began before tripping on a rock, taking Connor down in the process. Jared landed on top of Connor and quickly scrambled to get up, apologizing. Connor paid no attention to the fact that they had just fallen and instead seemed more fascinated in the rock they had just tripped on. He scooped it off the ground.

"Look, it's heart shaped!" He grinned, holding it out in his palm to show the others. Well damn, it was.

"Great job, guys!" Alana took the rock and placed it carefully in her bag. "Now get up, we have a lot more to find!" Connor stood up and offered a hand to Jared. Jared accepted it and pulled himself up.

"Should we split up?" Connor asked, brushing the dirt off his pants.

"No, then we won't be able to find each other!" Alana argued.

"But then we'll be able to cover more ground." Jared, looking at the list. "We get into groups of two and each group will only have to find two items on the list." 

"I'll go with Jared." Connor said quickly. "Besides, we already found one of our two items." He grinned smugly and held up the rock. Alana huffed but seemed to agree.

"Fine, group one finds the acorn and the pine cone, group two finds the feather and the piece of litter, and you two-" Alana pointed at Connor and Jared. "Find the purple flower. When we've found our items we meet back here, okay?"

"Got it!" Connor gave her a thumbs up and grabbed Jared's sleeve again. "This should be easy." As Jared stumbled away from the group with Connor, an uneasiness settled in his stomach. What if this was they last time they got to hang out before Evan told Connor that he liked him?

    "Slow down, Connor." Jared pried his sleeve from Connor's grip. "We only have one item, everyone else has two, we'll just be waiting for them if we find it too early."

    "I know, I know." Connor's pace only slowed down slightly. "I just need to win."

    "Why?" Jared questioned, scanning the ground as they walked.

    "It's-It's nothing." Connor shrugged. Jared thought that was a little vague but dismissed it. After all, Connor was just a little odd sometimes.

    Not that Jared himself wasn't.

    After a five minute walk Jared spotted a very pretty purple flower which he didn't know the name of because he knows jack shit about plants.

    That's more Evan's expertise.

    "Alright, easy as that, we can head back." Jared smiled, trying to be very delicate with the flower.

    "Yeah," Connor bit at his lip. "I hope everyone else finds all their stuff pretty quick."

    "They will." Jared assured him.

    They didn't.

    Even after every other group was back it was ten more minutes till they arrived. Alana stomped over to them, the rest of their group at her heels. Connor and Alana were both looking very pissed off. Zoe, on the other hand, was looking very smug.

    "What the hell took you guys so long!" Connor fumed, clenching his hands into fists.

    "Well apparently the sanitation here is on par." Alana tapped her foot angrily. "We couldn't find a single piece of trash."

    "It's trash! Make your own!" Connor yelled, catching the attention of other groups.

    "That's cheating! I can't do that!" Alana said defensively. Connor let out a strangled noise before storming off, leaving the rest of the group behind. Jared watched Connor go, unsure if he should follow or not. He decided against it.  
     
    "Hey, it's okay, it's just a scavenger hunt." Jared tried to say soothingly but it came out sounding a bit sarcastic.

    "But it's not just a scavenger hunt!" Alana frowned, getting more upset by the second. "I always excel in everything I do! We got last place, in school that would be called failing!" 

    With a loud sob, Alana ran off, leaving Jared feeling awkward and alone with people he didn't really care about. He looked over at his other group members.

    "Well, bye." He shrugged, leaving to go over to Zoe and Evan. Zoe had lost her smug look in exchange for a worried one.

    "Is Alana okay?" She asked, peering around. "She seemed pretty upset."

    "She was comparing the scavenger hunt to school." Jared raised his eyebrows. "I think that explains itself."

    "Yeah, I'll go find her. She probably headed back to the cabin." Zoe ran off.

    Jared was left alone with Evan, who surprisingly was the most emotionally stable at the moment. He seemed to be enjoying this luxury.

    "So, about that card I found earlier." Evan said softly. "First off, I won't tell anyone I swear."

    "Not a single living soul on this planet, but continue." Jared nodded.

    "Second off, who was the card for?" Evan tilted his head to the side. "You seemed very upset about it, the girl you like, does she not like you back?"

    Wait, girl? Did he just hear that right? Does Evan not know who he likes? 

    Oh, he didn't put Connor's name on the card.

    Dumbass.

    "Oh, yeah. She probably just doesn't like me back." Jared let out a fake laugh.

    "Jared," Evan said, suddenly lowering his voice. "Do you like Alana?" Jared hesitated,

    "Oh, um, yeah, I do."


	6. Sadness and Swimming

    After admitting his fake feelings towards Alana, Jared had had enough drama and stress for the day and decided to go take a nap. When Jared arrived back at the cabin, however, he found Connor laying in his bed, his face buried in his pillow.

    "You okay, dude?" Jared asked, kicking off his sneakers. Connor didn't answer. In fact, he didn't even show any signs that he had heard Jared. Jared walked over and tapped on Connor's elbow. "Dude?" Connor peeled his face off the pillow, Jared noticed his eyes were red and puffy, like he'd been crying.

    "What?" Connor asked coldly.

    "I just wanted to know what's wrong." Jared gulped, taking a step back.

    "None of your business." Connor growled, burying his head back into the pillow. 

    "Okay." Jared crawled into his own bunk, listening to Connor's uneven breathing. After a couple of minutes, Jared heard Connor mumble into his pillow.

    "Zoe always wins everything."

    Jared hesitated, was Connor talking to him?

    "She gets good grades, has all the friends, is great at sports. She's even our parents' favorite, it's not fair." Connor said, barely audible. Jared slowly rose off the bed.

    "Have you told her you feel this way?" He asked softly. Connor snorted.

    "No way." He wiped tears from his face, letting out a sigh. "It's fine, I was just being dumb." Jared nodded, leaning on the top bunk.

    "Do you need anything?" Jared smiled.

    "Ugh, I need you to stop being so nice to me, it's disgusting." Connor scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue, making Jared laugh. 

    "Okay, okay." Jared grinned, rolling his eyes. "Are you hungry? We're kinda missing dinner."

    "Fuck yes, let's hurry." Connor jumped off the top bunk, not bothering with the ladder. Jared pulled on his shoes as Connor wiped his eyes, trying to make the redness go away.

    "Okay, I'm ready." Connor said, giving Jared a genuine smile.

    Fuck, Jared could've melted right then and there.

    Jared and Connor walked silently to the cafeteria, though it wasn't awkward. Somehow it was comforting just to have Connor beside him, even if they weren't actively engaged in dialogue. However, that comforting feeling quickly faded away as they arrived at the cafeteria. 

    Evan, Alana, and Zoe were waiting for them at the table. Jared quickly got his food and headed over.

    "Jared, why don't you sit here next to Alana and I?" Evan grinned at him, patting the seat. Jared glared at him as he plopped down his tray, watching sadly as Connor sat a couple of seats down. 

    "How are you feeling, Alana?" Jared smiled at her. He was genuinely concerned, she had seemed upset earlier, but he could also feel Evan's eyes burning the back of his skull and it kind of pissed him off.

    "Oh, I'm all better!" Alana smiled. "It's just a game and there will be plenty of others!" Jared nodded, playing with his food with his fork. Tonight's gourmet dinner was a crusty bowl of mac and cheese with a side of suspiciously crunchy green beans.

    "So we have a bit of free time after dinner." Zoe piped up, glancing around the table. "I figured we could all do something together like swimming or volleyball."

    "I think I can speak for everyone here in saying that none of us want to do anything competitive." Jared chuckled. The others nodded.

    "Swimming sounds fun." Evan nodded, averting his gaze when he made eye contact with Zoe.

    "Yeah! Last year for community service hours I was a lifeguard at the school pool, of course I had to be trained first but it was a lot of fun!" Alana beamed. 

    "Swimming it is then!" Zoe said, grabbing her tray and dumping the rest of her food in the trash. Everyone else soon followed and headed to their cabins to get changed.

"Hey Ev, you pack your speedo?" Jared called over his shoulder, grabbing his dark red swimming shorts. 

"No!" Evan flushed, light blue swimming trunks in hand. 

    "I did, you have a problem with that?" Connor said playfully. Jared turned around to say something snarky but froze the instant he saw Connor.

    He. Was. Wearing. A. Speedo.

   Jared nearly had a heart attack right there. His mouth fell open and he couldn't help but stare for a few moments before turning back around. His face was turning such a bright red he was worried that Connor or Evan might notice.

"What's up, Kleinman?" Connor sounded confused. "Have you no words of wisdom to impart on us?" Jared's mouth felt dry as he fiddled with his swimming trunks.

"Afraid not, there are no words for what you're wearing." Jared said sarcastically, though he meant every word of it. 

After Jared finished changing the three headed down to the beach, Jared glancing at Connor the entire way. How has he never noticed how muscular Connor is?

Zoe and Alana were already waiting for them at the beach, Zoe was wearing a bright red one piece bathing suit while Alana wore a pretty purple bikini.

"What's up!" Zoe grinned, strolling over. Alana followed her, looking a bit more flustered than the last time Jared saw her. 

"Hi Jared!" Alana giggled, brushing the hair out of her face. Jared's heart sunk, did Evan tell her? No way, she was acting normal at dinner and the two hadn't been alone since then. 

Jared scoffed to himself, Evan especially wouldn't do that after what he threatened to reveal.

"Hey!" Jared gave a small wave. "You guys ready to hop in?"

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" Zoe squeaked, dashing off towards the lake. Everyone else quickly scrambled to follow her. 

Jared may or may not have jogged a bit slower so he could watch Connor run.

Damn.

Evan, however, was the last one to the lake. Everyone unanimously agreed that the loser must be punished and began to splash Evan, who ducked away and began running in the other direction. Everyone except Zoe decided to let him go. She chased after him, and considering she was a lot faster than him she quickly caught up.

Jared watched as Zoe tackled Evan, sending both of them underwater. However, when the two came above water they were laughing, but Evan was avoiding eye contact.

Though, when wasn't he?

Jared ignored everyone else for a minute to wade out deeper. He was pretty short, so it didn't take long for the water to get up to his chest. 

"The water's nice and warm." Connor said from behind him, making Jared jump. He hadn't even realized Connor had followed him.

"Yeah, it is." Jared smiled, turning around. He tried to keep eye contact with Connor, he didn't want his eyes wandering elsewhere when Connor was paying attention.

"You're so short." Connor suddenly laughed, Jared noticed how the water that went to his chest was barely above Connor's belly button.

"No I'm not!" Jared frowned, standing on his tip toes. Sadly, this still didn't even make him anywhere close to Connor's height.

"Yes, you are." Connor teased, putting his hand on Jared's head and pushing him down, forcing Jared to put his feet flat on the sand. "What a shortie."

"I'm not-" Jared huffed before being cut off by a yell from Zoe.

"Guys! Get over here, let's play a game!" 

Connor rolled his eyes so only Jared could see. Jared puffed out his chest, feeling special that Connor only showed him the eye roll. 

"What are we playing?" Evan asked softly.

"We can play Marco Polo, shark and minnows," Alana began listing off games.

"Marco Polo sounds fun." Connor interrupted. 

"Okay, Jared you get to be Marco first." Zoe nodded.

"Actually, I think he would technically be Polo first because he's shouting Marco, why would he yell his own name?" Alana corrected her.

"Fine, fine, either way he's it first." Zoe waved her hand.

"Why do I have to be it first?" Jared groaned.

    "Jared, if you don't want to be Polo first I can do it." Alana smiled at him.

    "Uh, okay, thanks." Jared shrugged. "Guess that decides it." Alana let out a giggle and played with her hair. Okay, Jared had decided something was definitely up. He eyed Evan suspiciously.

    "Alright, I'm closing my eyes and I'm gonna start counting!" Alana grinned, covering her eyes with her hands. Everyone else dashed off. 

    After the standard counting to ten, Alana held her arms out, feeling around in front of her. 

    "Marco!" She yelled, wading through the water.

    "Polo!" Everyone else in the group shouted back. Alana stumbled forward, heading towards Jared. After a long time of what felt like she was only chasing him, Alana tagged him.

    "Gotcha!" She beamed, opening her eyes. Her hand lingered a little too long on Jared's chest, where she had tagged him.

   "Yeah, you did." Jared let out a small laugh. He needed to talk to Evan. Now.

    The group gathered around Alana and Jared.

    "That means you're it next, Jared." Connor shook his head. "You just weren't quick enough."

    "Actually, I have to use the bathroom. Ev, can you come with me?" Jared asked, raising his eyebrows.

    "Sure!" Evan said, completely oblivious to how mad Jared was at the moment. The two walked back up to the shore. They walked towards the nearest restrooms, which were about a ten minute walk away. Jared waited until the group was way out of earshot to speak.

    "What the hell, you told?" Jared hissed, not looking at Evan, who quickly turned pale.

    "I-I-I only told Zoe!" Evan's voice shook as he spoke.

    "What did I fucking say! I fucking said not to tell a single soul!" Jared bit his lip. "How the hell did Alana find out then?"

    "Zoe must've told her." Evan said in a small voice. 

    "Yeah, well, guess Zoe isn't good at keeping secrets, so who knows if she'll keep your's-" Jared fumed. Evan suddenly dropped to his knees, letting out a sob and grabbing at Jared's leg.

    "Please don't tell her!" Evan begged, rubbing his cheek against Jared's leg. Jared pulled away awkwardly. He didn't really know what to do, now he felt bad. 

    "Ev, I won't." Jared glanced away, rubbing at his neck. Evan rubbed the tears out of his eyes, he looked up at Jared.

    "Really?" He asked, scrunching his face up. Jared shrugged and squatted down, he placed a hand on Evan's shoulder.

    "I won't, I swear." Jared sighed. "But honestly Ev, just hide your porn on your laptop better next time. It's really no big deal though, dude." Evan flushed red. 

    "Thanks Jared." He smiled. Jared stood and pulled Evan up with him. 

    "But you do fucking owe me big time because now Alana thinks- uh, I mean knows, that I like her!" Jared frowned, turning around and heading back to the beach.

    "You should ask her out, after all she does like you back." Evan chimed.

    "No way, I can't ask her out!" Jared shook his head.

    "Why?" Evan questioned, trailing at Jared's heels. "She knows you like her and you know she likes you? So what's stopping you?"

    Connor.

    "No, I- just." Jared tried to argue.

    "You're nervous, aren't you?" Evan said quietly. "Don't worry, I get nervous too sometimes, but I believe you can do it."

    God, why did Evan have to be so nice. It'd be easy if he were a jerk.

    "Fine." Jared choked, but an inner part of himself was asking what the hell he was doing. Part of him believed it would be so much easier if he admitted that he didn't like Alana, that he was pansexual, that he had the biggest fucking crush on Connor Murphy. 

    When they arrived at the beach Alana was on the shore, drying herself off with a towel while Connor and Zoe looked like they were arguing in the water. 

    "Hey." Jared said as they walked over to Alana. Dear god, what was he going to do?

    "Oh, it looks like Connor and Zoe need a bit of help." Evan slowly backed away from them and headed towards the two bickering siblings.

    "So, uh." Jared looked down at his feet.

    "Jared, I know that you're having trouble asking me out so," Alana took in a deep breath. "Do you want to go towel off and go on a date with me? We could go on a walk or climb trees or whatever you want, really." Jared stared at her for a second before glancing over at the water.

    At Connor.

    He was prancing around the water as Zoe attempted to splash him but missed and got Evan instead. His head fell back as he gave a loud, joyful laugh. 

    Jared swallowed, looking back at Alana. It wasn't like he didn't care for Alana. In fact, he almost felt protective of her, but he didn't like her romantically.

    "Yeah, I'd love that." He lied and felt filthy for it.

    "Great!" Alana squealed, pulling Jared into a hug. He hugged back, peering over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of Connor.

    What has he gotten himself into.


	7. First Date

    Jared was going on a date with Alana.

    Alana.

    Not Connor.

    Maybe he could pretend she's Connor?

    Well that's just the fucking stupidest thing Jared's ever heard and he's listened to Evan try to talk to Zoe. Oh, wait no, he has heard worse than both those things and it was that time he said the thing about liking Alana. But that wasn't some funny memory from a long time ago.

    That was now.

    And it sucked balls.

    Jared was changing out of his swimsuit and into shorts and a shirt while Evan and Connor hounded him on date etiquette. Jared supposed that it was good to hear from Connor how to take someone out on a date but it's not like he could be thinking of that at the moment.  
Right now, he had to get through a date with Alana. Just one date and then could play it off as he's too cool for a girlfriend.

    "Aren't you gonna wear something nicer?" Evan asked, gesturing to what was probably a Dorito stain on Jared's shirt.

    "Well EXCUSE me, let me just pull a suit out of my luggage." Jared rolled his eyes. "Or better yet let's go rent one, the councilors sell conditioner and shampoo, they might have one."

    "Jared, are you seriously telling us you don't have any better clothes than this?" Connor raised an eyebrow. "Because I can see a hole in the bottom of your shirt." 

    Jared did have better clothes, but he was kind of trying not to impress Alana. Maybe she'd get bored with him and not want to go on a second date.

    "Jesus, since when did you two become the fashion police?" Jared shrugged, putting on cheap plastic flip flops, the classiest of footwear.

    "Since we knew you were going on a date!" Evan beamed. "I'm so excited for you, Jared!"

    "Me too, dude." Connor gave Jared a small smile that made Jared's stomach drop. He didn't want to do this, oh god, he just could go through with this, he had to stop this before it got out of hand and-

    There was a loud knocking at the door that made all three boys jump. Jared gulped.

    "There's your date!" Evan squealed.

    "Good luck, dude." Connor reached over and put a hand on Jared's shoulder. Jared wanted to lean into the touch, to cling to Connor and take him on a date instead. Of course he wasn't going to do that.

    That would be weird.

    "Thanks." Jared said hoarsely, the weight lifted off his shoulder and into his stomach as he watched Evan open the door, revealing Alana and Zoe.

    "Hi Jared!" Alana said, she was wearing a lovely yellow sundress with matching shoes. "How do I look!"

    "Amazing." Jared breathed, stepping forward. He glanced back at Connor, who had already retired to his bed, not paying any attention to the rest of the group. 

    "Thank you!" Alana giggled, taking Jared's hand. She waved goodbye at the others. "We'll be back soon!"

    "See you!" Zoe grinned, shutting the door. 

    "So Jared, where do you want to go?" Alana asked sweetly. Jared almost missed the question, he was too focused on their hands. They were intertwined and it gave Jared a queasy feeling. It wasn't right. He didn't like this, what was he doing?

    "Jared?" Alana asked again.

    "Oh, um, let's go see this cool rock formation near the volleyball court." Jared blinked.

    "That's a great idea! Did you know that basalt is the most common volcanic rock-" Alana didn't cut off there, that's where Jared's mind cut her off. It instead began to play some really good music. Damn, he had great music taste.

    Jared finally tuned in again a couple of minutes later.

    "-some granite is over four billion years old-"

    Jared blocked her out again. He knew that it wasn't exactly the kind thing to do, but it was the thing that would get him through this without doing something stupid. Damn, now his brain was playing They Might Be Giants.

    He was a music genius.

   "-and large parts of the northwest." Luckily Jared's brain detected when she finished so he could say,

    "Oh, wow, cool." 

    "I know!" Alana smiled as they arrived at the rock formation. "Woah, look how beautiful it is."

    It looked like a rock to Jared.

    "Let's get closer!" Alana lead him over to the rock. She peered at the rock, grinning. "Here, touch it." She lifted his hand and pressed it to the cool stone. 

    Why was he touching a rock.

    "What do you think?" She asked him.

    "Oh, it's, it's very cold?" Jared replied, he didn't know what answer Alana wanted.

    "Yes, it's cold, but what else?" Alana prodded him. Jared hesitated, looking at the rock like it had some sort of answer for him.

    "It's very gray?" Jared tried. Alana let go of his hand, rolling her eyes.

    "Nevermind." She flopped down at the base of the rock, smiling. Jared sat down next to her, very confused and trying to figure out what he missed. 

    "So, tell me a bit about yourself." Alana tilted her head, leaning against the rock.

    "Oh, well I like video games, though I bet you knew that. I like pretty much anything zombie related." Alana nodded along as Jared talked. "My favorite movie is LEGO Batman, my favorite color is red," Jared was actually starting to like this, he could handle just talking and hanging out with Alana like they were friends. "My favorite food is anything that has over fifty grams of sugar, I don't like-"

    Alana had leaned forward and pressed her lips against Jared's. Jared froze for a second, just letting it happen before putting his hands to Alana's shoulders and pushing her away.

    "I like boys!" Jared blurted out, scrambling back. "No, I like girls too, but um, I don't like you."

    Alana blinked at him.

    "No, I mean, I like Connor." Jared bit his lip, tasting blood. What the fuck was he saying right now? Alana was silent for a couple minutes, which left Jared in extreme agony as he waited for a response.

    "So, you're bisexual?" Alana asked, turning to look at him. 

    "Well, pansexual, I guess." Jared rubbed at his neck, unable to look at her. He felt his eyes begin to fill with tears, but refused to let them fall.

    "And you like Connor?" Alana sounded hurt, but not mad. "What about the card?"

"That was actually for Connor, I lied and told Evan it was for you." A tear slipped down Jared's cheek. Holy fuck, why was he crying? "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

    "It's okay." Alana sighed. "I think you're more distraught than I am about this, come here." She held out of her arms. Jared hugged her and began to cry harder. People always say that somehow crying makes you feel better, but all Jared felt was gross and upset and embarrassed. 

    "Thanks, Alana." Jared hiccuped, pulling away to wipe his eyes. "You're a great friend."

"I know, that's why you want to keep me as one." Alana joked, winking at him. "Connor, however, you need to date that boy for him to be nice." That earned a laugh from Jared.

    "Yeah, I suppose, just," Jared hesitated. "Can you keep it a secret for just a while?"

    "Of course." Alana smiled. "So shall we head back now?"

    "Would it be okay if we just hung out for a bit? I did enjoy hanging out with you." Jared laid down on the grass and stared up at the sky. 

    "I'd love that." Alana laid down next to him.

    "So, tell me a bit about yourself." Jared closed his eyes.

    "I have a 4.0 gpa, I volunteer at the animal shelter on weekends-"

    "No, that's what you're doing, tell me about you." Jared interrupted.

"Well, what about me?" Alana questioned.

"Like, what's your favorite animal?" Jared shrugged.

"Deep." Alana giggled. "Um, my favorite animal is probably a hedgehog."

"That's cute." Jared grinned at her. They sat in silence for a couple seconds.

"Jared, can I ask you something?" Alana turned her body sideways on the grass so she could look at him.

"No one ever says that when they're about to say something good, but okay." Jared frowned.

"Why do you like Connor?" She rested her head on her hand. "Of all people, Connor?"

"Well, I guess I think he's more than he seems. At least, I hope he is. I think deep down he's a sweetheart." Jared didn't even realize he thought this until now.

"What if he's not?" Alana prodded.

"Then I suppose I'd be pretty fucking disappointed."


	8. Rough Waters

Surprisingly, the rest of the group didn't ask many questions about why Alana and Jared never went on another date. A couple weeks passed without incident and Alana faithfully kept Jared's secret. There were games and crafts for Jared to do, but nothing too significant. That's why we'll skip ahead to the day Jared and Connor were paired up on the big rafting trip, where they were finally allowed to paddle down the river by themselves. 

The trip lasted around three hours, and Jared was thrilled to be spending that much time alone with Connor. The two boys were dressed in swimming trunks and shirts and had already prepared the inflatable raft for the trip. They had sunscreen, water bottles, two bagged lunches, and a variety of other items.

    "Are we forgetting something?" Jared asked, climbing into the canoe. He threw his life jacket aside, no way was he going to wear that thing. "I feel like we're forgetting something."

    "No way, dude." Connor began pushing the canoe into the water, equally ignoring the life jacket. "I'm pretty sure we have everything." 

"Okay, if you say so." Jared took a paddle and watched as Connor hopped from the water into the raft. They rocked to the side for a second before steading out.

    "Alright, so I guess we just follow the river until we reach the dock." Connor sighed, leaning back. "So I suppose we can just chill for awhile until we arrive."

    "That's boring." Jared frowned. "Seriously, is sitting here all we do?"

   "Pretty much." Connor shrugged. "It's a raft, it's not really high maintenance."

“Then, let’s talk.” Jared’s heart was pounding, he tried to act normal. “Tell me a bit about yourself.”

“Jared, what the fuck does that mean?” Connor snorted, sticking one hand into the water.

“Like, what’s your favorite band?” Jared asked. 

“Nothing More” Connor immediately answered. “Best band out there, you should really check out the song Jenny.” He paused. “Of course, I mean when we leave the camp.”

“Yeah, I bet it’s a great band.” Jared definitely made a mental note to listen to the band. “Um, what sort of after school activities do you do?”

“None.” Connor snorted, rolling his eyes. “What about you?”

“Well, I go and play dungeons and dragons at the local hobby shop-“ 

“Nerd.” Connor chimed in quickly.

“But twice a week Evan tutors me in English, I don’t know if you would call that an after school activity though.” Jared shrugged.

“It counts.” Connor said, leaning over to grab a paddle. “It’s something, rather than sitting alone in your room for hours on end.”

“Yeah, I-“ A bug landed on Jared’s arm and bit him. “Holy fuck! Ow!” Jared slapped at his arm. “Get it off! Get it off!”

“Jesus, Jared.” Connor crawled over to Jared. “Calm down, we just need to grab the bug spray-“ Connor reached down and began to dig through the bag they brought, he dumped out the contents of the bag and-

Oh, that’s what they had forgot.

“I’m sorry, we don’t have bug spray.” Connor panicked, the bugs were quickly increasing in number now. They were swatting left and right trying to get them off.

“What do we do?” Jared shrieked, scrambling back. The raft rocked to the side before flipping over, sending the two boys crashing into the water.

Now, Jared was not proud of the fact that he had never learned to swim. Sure, he could wade out to the water and pretend and all that, but that wasn’t really swimming. 

Connor resurfaced a few seconds later, treading water and looking completely pissed off. However, after realizing he couldn’t see Jared, he began to worry. 

“Jared!” Connor called, swimming around the raft until he saw a flash of bright red under the water.

Jared was wearing red when they got on the raft, wasn’t he? 

Connor couldn’t really remember and didn’t really have the time to. He took a deep breath before diving under the water, reaching his hands out to grab at the waist of the smaller boy. Jared didn’t struggle, just laid limp and let Connor drag him upwards.

The two resurfaced, taking large, gasping breaths of air. Jared even coughed up a bit of water. 

“What the hell?” Connor breathed, loosening his grip on Jared’s waist. “Why didn’t you just swim?”

Jared immediately clung harder to Connor, wrapping his legs around Connor’s waist. “I can’t.” Jared said in a small voice. “I can’t swim.”

“What?” Connor demanded, sounding completely shocked. “But, don’t you have to pass a swimming test to be allowed in the lake?”

“I cheated and used my feet.” Jared rested his forehead on Connor’s shoulder as the taller boy lead him to shore. 

“Fuck, Jared, you could have died.” Connor scolded. “Fuck! You weren’t even wearing a life jacket! Jared, what if I wasn’t there to save you!”

“But you were.” Jared felt like curling up into a ball and crying. He didn’t like being scolded by Connor. It wasn’t like being yelled at by his parents, when they did it it made him feel angry, when Connor did it it made him feel ashamed and guilty.

“It was lucky.” Connor pried Jared off of him and set him on the shore. “Now, you stay here while I get the raft.”

“Okay.” Jared whispered, looking down at his feet.

Jared watched silently as Connor flipped their raft back over and tried to get it situated. They had lost their bag of items, which wasn’t that big of a deal except for the fact that their sunscreen and food was in there. Luckily, the paddles and life jackets hadn’t gone too far from the raft and were floating nearby. Connor was easily able to grab them and throw them inside.

Connor then tugged the raft over to Jared so he could hop inside without having to get in the water. Jared quietly slipped into the raft, avoiding eye contact with Connor. Connor pushed them off and hopped inside next to Jared. 

“Here, put this on.” Connor said, grabbing a life jacket and undoing the straps. He helped Jared slip it on and buckle it up. 

Jared didn’t like it. It made him feel childish and helpless. He wanted to get angry at Connor, to pitch a huge fit and yell at him, but at the same time he knew he wasn’t really angry at Connor.

Jared sulked at the back of raft, letting Connor steer them. He was angry, ashamed, and hungry. Jared watched the water, considering throwing himself into it to get rid of the painful silence between him and Connor.

But alas, he had this fucking life jacket on.

After what felt like forever Connor finally spoke up,

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you like that.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I know it’s dumb, it’s just, I got scared.”

“Scared?” Jared asked, confused.

“Scared that you’d get hurt.” Connor mumbled so Jared almost couldn’t hear it. 

“You care about me?” Jared was stunned.

“Shut up.” Connor’s face flushed red. “I mean, I don’t want you to die but I wouldn’t call it ‘caring’” 

“You care about me!” Jared taunted, sitting up. “The great Connor Murphy has feelings!”

“Fuck off, Jared.” Connor groaned. “Okay, yes, I think of you as a friend.”

Oh, a friend.

Of course Jared knew this.

Still, this killed Jared’s mood all together.

“Hm, yeah.” Jared gave a small fake laugh before going silent again.

“Yeah.” Connor gave Jared a wide smile that made his heart melt. God, why did Jared have to have all this dumb feelings that made everything difficult.

“So, how far away are we, I’m starving.” Jared whined, pulling at the straps of his life jacket.

“I’d say we still have a solid hour and a half.” Connor estimated. Jared groaned, sinking down into the raft.

“But I’m starving.” Jared complained loudly.

“Hi starving, I’m Connor.” Connor snickered, Jared let out a louder and longer groan.

After another hour Jared was about ready to eat anything. He was constantly pestering Connor, who was just as hungry and tired and wet as Jared. Both were on the verge of killing each other.

“For fucks sake Jared, for the fiftieth time, no we’re not there yet!” Connor threw his paddle down in the raft.

“Then hurry up!” Jared growled back. “I need food now!”

“Trust me, you’ll fucking live.” Connor seethed. “As long as I don’t kill you first-“

“You want to fight!” Jared was past any rational thought. Natural instincts to get angry and fight when hungry were definitely setting in. Jared hadn’t skipped a meal in years.

“Please, like you’d actually win.” Connor loomed over Jared, even when they were sitting down in a raft. 

“I can and I will!” Jared puffed out his chest and glared Connor in the eyes, staring him down.

“Then come on-“ Connor began to snap.

Jared connected the space between them and kissed Connor.


	9. Confessions

    Jared was kissing Connor.

This was a real thing that was happening, not a dream.

At least he hoped it wasn't a dream.

Oh god what if it was a dream?

Jared cupped Connor's face, feeling his soft cheeks and pulling him in closer. There was no way this could be a dream, it was too real. Jared could feel Connor's warm skin against his as they pressed together, he could smell the cheap, but still sweet-smelling conditioner that Connor used, and could hear the small delighted noises coming from Connor.

Jared wasn't exactly an expert, but he could almost gather that Connor actually liked kissing him.

That is, until Connor pushed Jared off of him.

Jared was left sitting alone on the opposite side of the raft. They were back to awkward long silence, which Jared didn't like. A sea of questions swarmed through Jared's head. Did Connor hate him? Did Connor even like boys? Would Connor tell everyone what Jared did?

    So, Jared did the only thing he was capable of doing at that moment, sitting in miserable silence. Soon, the two boys arrived at the dock and were able to get out of their drenched clothing and eat some goddamn food.

    Connor left to go to the cabin without saying as much as a word to Jared, which made him uneasy. 

    Jared headed to the girls' cabin. It may not have been ideal, but at least he might get some answers from Alana.

    Jared knocked on the cabin door, anxiously waiting for an answer. A couple seconds later Zoe opened the door, looking a bit surprised to see Jared.

    "Hey, what's up?" Zoe asked, looking Jared up and down. "You look... not good."

    "I don't feel good, is Alana here?" Jared asked, stepping into the cabin. Jared was met not with Alana, but with Evan sitting shirtless on Zoe's bed.

Jared somehow could not muster the strength to care at this point. He just needed to see Alana, Alana would know what to do. He just needed-

Jared burst out crying, right in front of Zoe and Evan. God, who hasn't Jared cried in front of now?

"Jared, are you okay?" Evan asked nervously, quickly pulling on his shirt. Jared could feel Zoe's hand rest on his back, soothingly petting him.

"What's wrong?" Zoe said sweetly, leading Jared over to the bed, where she sat him down. 

Jared couldn't even bring himself to talk, he was crying with great, hiccuping sobs. He hated it. 

Fuck emotions.

    "Jared?" Evan and Zoe were on both sides of him, each petting and trying to sooth him. 

    "No, it's just," Jared gulped, rubbing the tears out of his eyes. He didn't even know what to say.

    "Is this about Alana?" Evan asked softly. "You two seemed to be on good terms though-"

    "It's not about Alana, ok?" Jared raised his voice slightly before more tears fell from his eyes. "It's just, I kissed Connor."

    There was silence in the room for a minute. 

    Jared was beginning to hate silence.

    "Did my brother make you because I can go yell at him-" Zoe started.

    "No, he didn't kiss me, I kissed him." Jared sighed, looking down at his lap. There was another pause.

    "Why?" Evan sounded very confused.

    "Because I'm pansexual." Jared tugged on his hair, shutting his eyes. "And I like Connor."

    "Honey, that's no reason to cry." Zoe draped her arm over Jared's shoulders. "It's okay."

"No, it's not okay!" Just as Jared had gotten all the tears scrubbed from his face more leaked from his eyes. "Because Connor doesn't like boys!"

"Did he tell you that?" Zoe's voice was even and gentle.

"No, but he pushed me away and now he's not really talking to me." Jared sniffed, Evan handed him a tissue. God, Jared hated being taken care of by other people. 

    "Where is Connor now?" Evan asked as he got up to grab more tissues.

    "Our cabin." Jared sulked, laying down on Zoe's bed, which was surprisingly comforting. She had a fuzzy purple blanket that smelled like lavender.

    "Why don't you go talk to him?" Evan suggested, setting the tissues in Jared's lap. "It could sort things out."

    Jared only made a small, miserable sound and curled up in Zoe's blankets. He didn't want to confront Connor but at the same time he wanted to get rid of this terrible feeling in his chest.

    "What if Connor doesn't like me?" Jared's voice was muffled from the blanket.

    "Well you'll never know unless you try, time to get up, dude." Zoe pulled the blanket off of Jared. "No point in sitting around, go talk to him."

    "Why?" Jared whined, well aware he was acting like a brat. 

    "Come on." Evan was a bit more gentle in forcing Jared to get out of bed, he helped Jared sit up and wipe the leftover tears on his face.

    "You can do it!" Zoe insisted, pulling Jared off the bed by his arms.

    "It's like my mom always says, seize the day." Evan smiled, lightly patting Jared on the back.

    "Alright, I'm going, okay?" Jared grumbled. He wasn't really sure if he was leaving because he wanted to talk to Connor or because those two had gotten super annoying. 

    Jared made the trek to their cabin way slower than it needed to be. He paused to look at squirrels and picked a couple of flowers, some of which he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to pick but oh well.

    Jared was staring intently at a bird's nest when Alana came around the bend in the trail.

    "Jared, what are you doing?" Alana was soaked in water, clearly having had the same issues on her rafting trip as Jared.

    Okay, maybe not the same issues.

    "There's a really cool bird's nest." Jared told her quietly. Alana gave him a bewildered look.

    "Since when have you been into birds?" Alana scrunched up her face, looking up at the empty nest. "Is everything okay?"

    "I tried to find you earlier, but instead I ran into Evan and Zoe." Jared sighed, turning around to face Alana. "I'm pretty sure I interrupted a make out session between them."

    "I guess now you know, they've kind of been dating a couple of weeks." Alana stepped closer to Jared. 

    "Damn, aren't you just the secret keeper." Jared chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "But not anymore, because now everyone know I fucking like Connor."

    "What happened?" Alana asked, her eyes widening behind her glasses.

    "I kissed Connor." Jared's voice cracked as he spoke. "Then I told Evan and Zoe that I kissed him and now I've told you and now everyone is in on the giant party of Jared is a fucking moron who should've just kept his mouth shut in the first place."

    "It's going to be fine." Alana assured him.

    "That's what everyone keeps telling but what if it's not!" Jared began pacing back and forth. "What if Connor hates me for kissing him and never hangs out with me again!"

    "What if he likes you back, though?" Alana rested her hand on Jared's shoulder, staring him in the eyes. "You'd live your whole life wondering. Now go on, go get that boy."

    Even with the inspiring speech Alana gave him, Jared still took his time getting to the cabin. There was so much on the line it was making Jared sick to his stomach.

    Jared stood at the door to their cabin, he could see the light was on from the window. Connor was definitely inside. Jared stared at the door for a couple minutes, wondering if he should turn back and avoid Connor for the rest of his life.

    Finally, Jared reached forward and pushed open the cabin door. 

    Connor was sprawled on the top bunk, reading a book. He hardly gave Jared a glance as he walked in.

    "Connor?" Jared asked, stepping closer to the bed.

    "Get the fuck away from me, Kleinman." Connor growled, his grip tightening on his book.

    "Look, I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have-" Jared began to apologize.

    "That was sick, Jared! That was a sick fucking joke!" Connor snapped, slamming his book shut loudly. Jared was taken aback, speechless for a second.

    "Wait, joke?" Jared questioned, staring up at Connor, who didn't sense Jared's confusion.

    "How did you find out?" Connor fumed, sliding off the bed and stomping over to Jared, who sunk down. "Did you read my fucking journal, you dick-"

    "It wasn't a joke!" Jared shouted, cowering away from Connor. "It-It wasn't a joke."

    "The fuck is that supposed to mean?" Connor demanded, standing his ground.

    "I like you, okay!" Jared yelled, but didn't make eye contact. "I like everything about you, you're stunning and sweet and amazing in every way!"

    Connor's jaw dropped and he stared at Jared for a second, seemingly considering this new development.

    "You like me?"

    "Hell yeah." Jared said in a small voice.

    Connor reached forward and grabbed Jared by the belt loops on his pants, pulling him so they were pressed together. 

    "Well, I like you too." Connor's eyes were large and excited. Jared stared up at him, mouth agape, he was speechless. 

"Nothing to say?" Connor teased lightly, running a hand through Jared's hair. Jared licked his lips, they were suddenly very dry.

"Um." Jared had a million things running through his head but nothing to say. "Um." Connor chuckled, leaning down and pressing their lips together for a quick kiss, almost like he was testing it.

"Jared, do you maybe wanna go on a date sometime?" Connor looked at him intently.

"Yes." Was all Jared was able to squeak out. Connor beamed at the smaller boy and began pressing kisses all over his face.

"I can't wait."


	10. Official

    Jared and Connor had what they call a "long" and "unnecessarily messy" make out session.

    "It's almost time for dinner." Connor sighed, pulling away from Jared, who most definitely did not want to stop. He wanted to kiss more.

    "We can miss one meal." Jared chuckled, looking up at Connor. At some point during their make out session they had flopped down on Jared's bed and Connor had pulled Jared into his lap. 

    "I dunno, you get cranky when you're hungry." Connor smiled, lifting a hand and running it along Jared's jaw. 

    That was most definitely true, not that Jared would admit it.

    "No way, let's kiss some more." Jared leaned forward to press their lips together once more but was met with Connor's hand, which pushed his face away.

    "I'm not dealing with crabby Jared, let's go eat." Connor chuckled. Jared groaned but crawled off of Connor's lap. He went to grab Connor's hand so they could walk to the cafeteria together but Connor quickly pulled it away.

    "What do you think you're doing?" Connor demanded.

    "Holding your hand?" Jared scrunched up his face.

    "Why? Then everyone would ask why we're holding hands." Connor frowned at him.

    Oh, right. Connor didn't know that Jared had told everyone about what had happened.

    Oops.

"Ah, yes, how stupid of me." Jared nodded, heading towards the door. He opened it for Connor, who ruffled Jared's hair on his way out as a reassurance to Jared.

    "You gotta keep this quiet, okay? No one should know about this." Connor instructed, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked.

    "Yeah, no problem." Jared struggled to keep up with Connor's fast pace. He was beginning to feel bad, here Connor had told him he didn't want anyone to know about them and Jared had already blabbed to all of their friends.

    "You'll do great." Connor grinned at him.

The two arrived at the cafeteria and took their seats next to the others, who were clearly dying to know what had happened. Jared had to gesture to them not to say anything. 

Connor quietly picked at his food, unaware that everyone at the table was carefully watching him.

"So, how was your rafting trip?" Alana coughed from across the table. Jared glared at her.

"This dick can't swim." Connor gestured at Jared with his fork, looking up from his tray. "I had to save his idiotic ass."

"You can't swim?" Zoe began to laugh. "You always say you're awesome at everything-"

"Shut up." Jared felt his face heat up.

"He didn't even wear a life jacket!" Connor grinned. "Jared, did you think being awesome could save you from drowning?"

"No!" Jared protested, but it was unheard compared to the loud laughter of everyone else at the table.

    "Jared, we were required to learn to swim for fifth grade gym class." Alana pointed out.

    "Yeah, well, I failed that semester, okay?" Jared huffed, crossing his arms.

    "Aw, don't be mad, Kleinman." Connor teased. Jared felt Connor's foot brush against his under the table. Jared looked up at Connor and saw the other boy's eyes soften. After that Jared couldn't really find it in himself to be upset.

    "How was your rafting trip, Alana?" Connor asked, deliberately taking the heat off Jared.

    "Oh it was amazing!" Alana beamed. "My partner didn't really do much work paddling, which is why we tipped at one point, but other than that I had so much fun!"

    "So, Evan and Zoe." Jared cleared his throat. "Your rafting trip is tonight so you had free time earlier today. What kinda fun did you two have?"

Alana let out a snort, clearly amused.

"Well, um, we-" Evan had turned a deep shade of red.

"We finally got to see that rock formation Alana has been raving about." Zoe eyed Jared warningly, almost as if to remind him that she had dirt against him as well.

"Man, everybody has gone to see this dumb rock formation except me." Connor frowned. "I wanna go too."

    "Why don't you and Jared go tonight?" Alana blurted out. Jared wanted to just die on the spot, none of these people knew anything about being subtle. 

    "Sure, sounds like a date." Connor glanced over at Jared, flashing him a smile. Jared's ears turned a shade of scarlet and he looked down at his lap.

    Everyone finished up their lunch; Zoe and Evan headed to the river for their rafting trip, Alana went to her cabin to finish up a sewing project she was doing, and Jared and Connor began to hike over to the rock formation.

     "You can hold my hand now." Connor told Jared, reaching his hand out. Jared gladly accepted it, holding it tightly even if both their palms were sweaty from the summer heat. They walked happily in silence, Jared swinging their hands, until they reached the rock. 

    Connor stood, staring at the formation for a couple seconds before he turned to Jared and said,

    "It looks like a regular fucking rock to me." 

    "Thank god, I thought I was the only one." Jared grinned. 

    "Nope, that definitely isn't something special." Connor sighed, flopping down at the base of the rock. "I suppose that's why it's at a summer camp and not a tourist attraction."

    "Yeah, I guess." Jared sat down next to Connor and rested his head on the taller boy's shoulder. Connor slipped an arm around Jared's waist, pulling him closer.

    "We have time for another make out session before Evan and Zoe get back." Connor whispered. Jared's eyes lit up.

    "Fuck yeah, let's go."

    A couple minutes later, Connor burst through the cabin door, Jared firmly wrapped around his waist. Connor stumbled around the cabin for a second, preoccupied with kissing Jared to pause to find the bed. 

    Connor did eventually find the bed, with his foot. He stumbled and fell, landing on the bed but also on top of Jared. 

    "Watch where you're going." Jared groaned.

    "It's not like I really could." Connor rolled off of Jared, laying next to him. Connor glanced over at Jared. "So, how did you know?"

    "Know what?" Jared asked.

    "Know that I'm gay." Connor bit his lip. 

    "Well, I didn't really." Jared chuckled. "You’re hard to read.”

“Oh, then why did you kiss me?” Connor sounded confused.

“Well, duh.” Jared snorted. “I like you, we’ve kinda discussed this already.”

“Yeah, but I guess I thought that you didn’t really like me.” Connor shrugged.

“Why wouldn’t I like you, you’re amazing!” Jared turned over on his side to face Connor.

“You’re funny.” Connor rolled his eyes.

“No, for once I’m serious, you’re the most awesome person I know, not including myself.” Jared chuckled.

“God, you’re so cheesy.” Connor groaned, sitting up and stretching. “Go back to being a dork.”

“Hey, I was not a dork.” Jared sat up with Connor. “I was cool.”

“In your dreams.” Connor stuck his tongue out. Suddenly there were footsteps outside the cabin door, no doubt that it was Evan returning from the rafting trip. Connor leaned in and gave Jared one more kiss before Evan opened the door, drenched in water. 

“Slip and fall into the water?” Connor chuckled.

“Shut up.” Evan made his way over to his dresser to towel off, leaving a trail of water behind him.

“Ooo, that’s Ev talk for ‘fuck off’” Jared teased. Evan looked over at Jared and Connor, glancing between them.

“Shut up.” He repeated, changing into dry clothes. 

“Jesus, crabby much?” Jared hopped off his bed.

“I’m gonna go grab Evan some food, that’s probably why he’s being such a priss.” Connor smiled, striding over the door. Before he shut it behind himself, he eyed Jared as if to say ‘talk to him’. There was silence in the room for a couple seconds.

“So, what’s up, dude?” Jared chuckled. “You’re not acting like yourself.”

“Zoe and I had a fight!” Evan threw his towel down onto the floor.

“It’s just a fight, it’s probably nothing.” Jared assured him.

“That’s easy for you to say, now you’re happy with the person you like.” Evan sniffed. “Yesterday, though, you were bawling your eyes out over it.”

“I was not bawling!” Jared squeaked. Evan rolled his eyes but somehow seemed to calm down.

“So, are you guys official now?” Evan asked, taking the towel he threw on the floor and folding it.

“Official?” Jared echoed.

“Yeah, like boyfriends? Er, or partners I guess, whatever you prefer-“

“No, we haven’t really talked about it I guess.” Jared blinked. He kind of figured that they already were boyfriends, after all, they had kissed and sort of gone on a date. What if Jared had been getting the wrong messages, what if he was just Connor’s make out buddy?

“You should, Zoe and I had that conversation right after we first kissed.” Evan shrugged, digging through a drawer. “Here, I want you to have this.”

Evan held out the card Jared had made weeks earlier for Connor. Jared had torn it up at that time, so it was carefully taped back together.

“Why the fuck did you dig this out of the garbage?” Jared asked, lightly taking the card.

“Well, at the time I figured that once you and Alana got together you could give it to her as a gift, but then you two never went out on a second date and then you kissed Connor and things were crazy.” Evan rambled off.

“Wow, thanks dude.” Jared opened the card and looked at his poorly drawn hearts. 

“You should give it to Connor.” Evan insisted.

“I dunno, maybe I will.” Jared shrugged, shutting the card. “Thanks Ev, you’re a great friend.”

Evan beamed at him.


	11. Spaghetti

Connor returned ten minutes later with a box of stolen food from the cafeteria. The three boys gathered around the box almost ceremoniously, picking at the crusty and oddly colored spaghetti with their hands because Connor forgot to bring forks.

    "Are you feeling better, Ev?" Jared nudged the boy with his elbow. 

    "A bit." Evan sighed, trying to wipe the spaghetti sauce off his face and instead smearing it.

    "What was the fight about?" Jared loudly slurped up his spaghetti, earning a disgusted look from Connor.

    "Jared, have some fucking manners." Connor  huffed. "And what fight?" Jared quietly mocked Connor under his breath before continuing to slurp up food.

    "Zoe and I got into a argument while we were on the rafting trip." Evan grabbed a handful of spaghetti and attempted to eat it without getting any of it on himself. They were all failing terribly at keeping themselves clean as each had large, gross stains dripping down the front of their shirts.

    "That sucks dude, so why is she mad at you?" Connor asked.

    "Why do you assume she's mad at him?" A piece of spaghetti flew out of Jared's mouth and landed on Connor's face.

    "Because he's not ranting to us, he's upset about it. Plus, she's my sister, she's always mad at something." Connor wiped the spaghetti sauce from his face. "And Jared, don't speak with your mouth full."

    Jared locked eyes with Connor and shoved a handful of spaghetti into his mouth.

    "Don't tell me what to do." Spaghetti went everywhere as Jared talked. Evan ducked to try to preserve himself. 

     "Jesus, you got it everywhere!" Connor complained, grabbing a handful of the spaghetti. "So I guess it won't matter if I do this-" Connor chucked the spaghetti at Jared, hitting him right in the face. Evan let out a loud giggle. 

    "You wanna play that game?" Jared grabbed a fistful and flung it at Connor, it hit him in the chest and dripped down so it also got all over his pants. Evan, already sensing he would be next to get a face full of spaghetti, stood up and tried to run. Jared grabbed the boy's leg, holding on tightly as Connor scooped up and flung a spaghetti wad at Evan, getting him in the back. 

    "That's gross!" Evan whined, trying to tug himself free. 

    "Don't worry, I'll get him back for you." Connor winked at Evan and before Jared could do anything Connor was rubbing spaghetti into his hair. Jared immediately let go of Evan's leg and tried to get the sauce out. Connor, however, caught Jared and held him still as rubbed the food in further.

    "My hair! My hair!" Jared shrieked, trying to squirm away from Connor.

"I'm just trying out a new gel for you." Connor laughed, finally letting go of Jared. Jared stumbled and landed on his butt on the floor, staring up at Connor. 

"My hair." Jared pouted, hurriedly fixing and fussing with it.

"Your hair is just fine." Connor rolled his eyes and wiped some spaghetti off his face.

"Look guys!" Evan squeaked. Jared and Connor looked over to see Evan drop a bunch of spaghetti from his shirt. "It's like it's my guts!"

"That's nice, Evan." Connor chuckled.

    "Ev, there are more important things happening right now, like my hair." Jared had gotten up and now stood looking in the mirror. "You guys got me all dirty, now I have to shower."

    "Jesus, who knew you were such a priss, Kleinman." Connor teased. "Your hair looks fine, even when it's covered in spaghetti." Jared still huffed.

"Well I'm gonna go take a shower, you two get to clean this up." Jared dug through his dresser to find a pair of clean clothes to wear.

"I'm not the one who started it." Evan sighed, grabbing a washcloth and beginning to wipe up the floor.

"Jared." Connor said firmly. Jared glanced over at him. "You should wear your Jurassic Park shirt, it looks good on you." Jared nodded enthusiastically, his stomach twisting with pleasure as he grabbed the shirt.

Connor liked something on him.

Jared, fresh clothes in hand, headed to the showers, which were only a five minute walk away.

    After Jared had thoroughly scrubbed his hair and got himself cleaned up he threw on his clothes, including the Jurassic Park shirt Connor liked. Jared stared at himself in the mirror, trying to figure out what Connor liked about the shirt.

    It was black, so it did make Jared look slimmer, but he doubted that Connor really cared about that. Maybe it was the sweet dinosaur on the front. It had it's jaws open as if it was going to hop out of the shirt and eat you alive. Jared had specifically picked the shirt out because of that.

    Jared decided it must've been the sweet dinosaur and headed back to the cabin.

    When he got to the cabin Jared was surprised to see how clean Connor and Evan had got it. Really, the only thing left to clean was Connor and Evan themselves.

"My turn to shower!" Evan smiled, grabbing a pair of cargo shorts and a polo. He ran out before Connor could even protest. 

"Man, he didn't waste a second." Jared strutted up to Connor, hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, he kept complaining about how the spaghetti felt on his skin." Connor was trying to be careful not to touch anything. "Plus, I think he wanted to go and patch things up with Zoe, so I don't think we'll see him for awhile."

    "Did he ever say why she was mad at him?" Jared asked, flopping down on his bed. "I dunno how she could be mad at him, he absolutely worships her."

    "He said that he had eaten both halves of the lunch on accident." Connor snickered. "In response, she shoved him off the raft."

    "That explains why he was soaked. No doubt they'll make up and start making out-" Jared began.

    "What?" Connor interrupted harshly.

    "What did I say?" Jared blinked, thinking back at his sentence. He couldn't think of anything he said wrong.

    "Why would they be making out?" Connor demanded.

    "Because they're dating?" Jared raised his eyebrows before realizing that was a secret, for all Connor knew they were just two friends who had gotten into an argument.

    Nobody should trust Jared with secrets. Hell, Jared didn't trust himself with his own secrets.

    "Since when?" Connor's voice rose an octave and Jared saw him tense up.

    "I dunno, a couple weeks." Jared mumbled.

    "I'm gonna kill Evan." Connor seethed, clenching and unclenching his fists. 

    "Woah, somehow I feel like this is a bad idea." Jared interjected, quickly sitting up. "I think you need to calm down a bit."

    "No, I don't." Connor shot Jared an icy glare. Jared got off the bed to go and comfort Connor when he realized he didn't really want to hug Connor as he was covered in spaghetti. Jared decided to sacrifice a hand.

    "It's okay, Evan would never harm her." Jared assured Connor, patting his shoulder.

    "It's my sister though." Connor still sounded upset, but Jared at least thought he was calming down.

    "Dude, she shoved Ev off a raft when he ate her lunch, I'm pretty sure she can take care of herself." Jared smiled. Connor gave a small laugh.

    "I guess you're right." He sighed. "But I'm still gonna have to have a talk with Evan."

    "I'm sure you'll scare him shitless, don't worry." Jared chuckled.

    "I bet he's out of the shower by now, I suppose I'll head there myself." Connor moved to go grab his clothes, but before he could Jared grabbed his arm.

    "Wait, I have to ask you something." Jared fussed, letting go of Connor's arm and looking down at his shoes.

    "Yes?" Connor sounded a bit worried.

    "What are we?" Jared blurted out, forcing himself to take his eyes off his sneakers and redirect them at Connor. 

    "Humans? What the fuck are you asking me right now?" Connor frowned, crossing his arms, which made a noodle fall to the floor.

    "Like, are we dating?" Jared asked nervously. "Or are we just secretly kissing each other to let out tension or?" Connor stared at him for a second, seemingly considering this.

    "Well I'd like to date you, if that's okay." Connor seemed to be stepping on eggshells just as Jared was.

   "That would most definitely be okay." Jared gave him a wide grin. "I'd kiss you but I just showered and you're all gross."

    "What, you don't want to kiss your boyfriend?" Connor snickered, holding his arms out and walking over to Jared.

    "No! Get away!" Jared shrieked, trying to dodge Connor, but it was too late. Connor grabbed Jared from behind and pulled him into a tight hug, planting wet and sauce filled kisses on the top of Jared's head.

    "I just want to kiss my boyfriend." Connor cooed. God he loved calling Jared his boyfriend.

    "Gross! You're getting spaghetti all over me!" Jared whined, trying to wriggle away.

    "Are you calling your boyfriend gross?" Connor teased.

    "No, my boyfriend isn't gross at all, it's the spaghetti on my boyfriend that is gross." Jared huffed, finally breaking free. 

     "Jerk, my spaghetti is beautiful." Connor laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll go shower so we can properly cuddle."

    "Good." Jared beamed at him. "Hurry back."

    "Trust me, I will." Connor rushed out, lightly shutting the door behind him. Jared looked around the room, trying to decide what he should do until Connor got back until his eyes landed on his boyfriend's bunk.

    Did it smell like Connor?

    Jared bet it did. He began to climb the short ladder that was really only necessary for young children and people with small legs, like Jared.

    Jared threw himself into Connor's bed, taking in the scents. Jared was grateful it really did smell like Connor and not like spaghetti. He buried his face in the pillow, taking deep breaths. It smelled like the woods, cheap conditioner, and teenage hormones.

    Jared fucking loved it.

    Soon Jared's breath began to even out as he laid there waiting for Connor. His eye lids began to grow heavy and his muscles began to relax.

    Jared fell asleep waiting for Connor to get back.


	12. The Scarf

    Jared woke up to Connor spooning him from behind. He felt delicate fingers comb through his hair, so he could obviously deduce that Connor was awake. 

    "Mornin." Jared slurred, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

    "It's hardly morning." Connor chuckled. "You've only been asleep for an hour." 

    "Well good afternoon then." Jared grunted, rolling over to face Connor.

    "Good afternoon, princess." Connor smirked. "Did you enjoy your nap?"

    "No, some weirdo crawled in next to me." Jared teased, planting a quick kiss on Connor's lips. "Have a nice shower?"

    "It was a shower." Connor shrugged. "What do you want me to say? That is was absolutely-fucking-fantastic?"

"Sounds like it was fun." Jared chuckled, wrapping his arms around Connor.

"Would've been more fun if you were there." Connor mumbled under his breath.

"Connor, such dirty thoughts." Jared grinned up at him. Connor rolled his eyes and sat up, leaving Jared cold. "No, don't leave." 

"Jared, if we continue to lie here we'll fall asleep and then we'll really fuck up our sleep schedule." Connor hopped off the bed.

"Since when did you get all Mr.Healthy?" Jared complained, wrapping himself up in Connor's blankets. "Come back and sleep."

"Jared, it's time to get up." Connor smiled, walking over to the end of the bed. He reached up and tickled Jared's foot.

Jared screeched, drawing his foot back. "No tickling! That's not fair!" 

"That sucks." Connor snickered, catching Jared's ankle tightly and continuing to tickle.

    "Let go!" Jared laughed, writhing on the bed. 

    "Time to get up, Jare." Connor grinned, eyes softening as he watched Jared laugh. Jared kicked, trying to get Connor off of him.

    "Okay!" Jared finally shrieked. "Okay, you win! I'll get up." Connor let go of Jared's foot, watching the small boy pant for a second.

    "You just needed a little persuasion." Connor chuckled, leaning on the bunk.

    "Persuasion my ass." Jared stuck his tongue out at Connor.

    "I can tickle you again-" Connor reached for Jared, who let out a squeak and hid his feet under the covers.

"Jerk." Jared huffed before crawling out of the bed. 

"I'm your jerk." Connor threw his arms around Jared's waist, tugging him closer.

"Damn right you are." Jared had to stand on his tip toes to kiss Connor. He wobbled a bit and had to lean on Connor for support. Jared felt Connor's laughter in his chest before he heard it.

"You know I could've just leaned down?" Connor chuckled.

"Shut up, I wanted to kiss you from your height." Jared kissed Connor rougher, hoping that it would silence him. Connor pulled away a bit to say,

"We could've gotten you a chair then." 

"Can't I just have one nice kiss." Jared frowned, pulling away from the kiss and crossing his arms.

"C'mon, babe." Connor leaned in and tried to kiss Jared again, Jared turned his cheek on him.

    "Don't we need a chair to kiss?" Jared asked, his head held high. 

    "You little shit." A large grin spread across Connor's face. Jared couldn't help but smile too.

    "Kiss me, jerkwad." Jared beamed. Connor leaned down and softly pressed their lips together. 

    This time, no one made any sarcastic remarks.

    Connor slowly began to back Jared up into the wall. Jared threw his arms around Connor's neck, letting Connor pick him up and press him against the wall. 

    Connor pulled away from Jared's lips to kiss at him neck. Jared's eyes fluttered shut as he enjoyed the sensation.

    "You're so beautiful." Connor mumbled against Jared's skin before he began to gently suck.

It was way too late when Jared realized that sucking meant marks and marks meant other people would know.

"Con, you're giving me hickeys!" Jared swatted at Connor's head. Connor set Jared down and pulled away, rubbing his head.

"Yeah, that's kinda the point." Connor snorted, frowning. 

"Well how the hell am I gonna hide them!" Jared ran over to the mirror and, sure enough, several red marks scattered his neck, in plain view for anyone to see. 

"Well you can just wrap a scarf around your neck." Connor hugged him from behind. "I think you would absolutely adorable in a turtle neck, but I highly doubt you even own one let alone brought one with you."

"I don't have a scarf." Jared sulked, leaning against Connor. 

"Well I do." Connor pressed a kiss to the top of Jared's head before heading over to his dresser and pulling out a black scarf. "Here you go." Jared lightly grabbed the scarf, a bit skeptical about wearing it.

"Hey, didn't you yell at me before for finding this?" Jared asked, slipping the scarf on.

"Yeah, but now it's being used for its intended purpose." Connor hummed, admiring him.

Jared didn't ask what he meant by intended purpose.

"How do I look?" Jared turned to face Connor.

"Dorky." Connor smiled. He really did, who wears a scarf with a Jurassic Park t-shirt and jean shorts? Even the jean shorts weren't even jean shorts, they were really just regular jeans that Jared had taken scissors to. "But like, a cute dorky."

"Thanks." Jared sighed, fiddling with the scarf.

    "Speaking of dorky, do you wanna go catch up with Alana?" Connor shrugged. "I wanna do something."

"I guess, but are you sure it covers everything up?" Jared fussed.

"Unfortunately, it does hide your entire neck." Connor sighed. "I dunno why you need to hide it, it shows that you're taken."

"I thought you didn't want anyone to know about us?" Jared rolled his eyes, heading to the door.

"I don't, but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't know you're taken." Connor smirked, holding the door open for Jared and then slipping out behind him.

"Dickwad, you can't have all the benefits of everyone knowing about our relationship without everyone knowing about our relationship." Jared chuckled.

    "I can try." Connor began to laugh along with Jared until he spotted Zoe and Evan heading their way along the trail. Connor froze, all the muscles in his body tending up. 

"Connor-" Jared tried to reach for the taller boy's shoulder, but before he could Connor was storming over to the two, his eyes fixed on Evan.

"Evan, you fucking asshole." Connor grabbed Evan by the shirt. 

Evan looked terrified.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Zoe demanded, trying to push herself between Connor and Evan. 

"You two are dating and just decided not to tell me?" Connor spat, letting go of Evan, who stumbled and fell onto the ground.

"What, how do you know-" Zoe's gaze moved to Jared, who wanted to shrink back into the woods. "You told him?"

"I didn't mean to, I swear." Jared held his hands up defensively. Frankly, he was quite scared Zoe would hit him.

"I'll deal with you later. Connor, you have no right to be interfering with my business." Zoe jabbed her finger at him. "Especially since you and Jared have been flaunting a little relationship without telling me."

Now it was Connor's turn to glare at Jared.

"You fucking told her?" Connor looked betrayed.

"I told her before we got together, so I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to tell her." Jared said in a small voice. "I'm sorry."

"I can't believe all of you right now." Connor shook his head before storming off to god knows where.

Zoe turned to Jared, "You had no right to tell him about us." 

"I know, I'm really sorry." Jared looked down. "It's just that I'm really really bad at secrets."

"Yeah, well, we're going." Zoe turned around. "Let's go, Evan." Evan scrambled off the ground and gave Jared a sympathetic smile before following her.

Jared didn't know where to go. He couldn't go back to the cabin, Connor was probably there. He couldn't go to the girl's cabin, that's where Zoe and Evan were heading. So, he went to the only place he could think of.

The rock formation.

    It sounded dumb, but it was probably the most isolated place he could go without breaking the rules. 

    However, when he arrived, he found that there was already someone else there.

    "Alana?" Jared asked, walking over.

    "Huh?" Alana looked up from her book. "Oh, hi Jared, what are you doing here?"

    "Everyone's kinda mad at me." Jared flopped down beside her. 

    "What'd you do this time?" Alana asked him nonchalantly, continuing to read.

    "I'm a terrible secret keeper." Jared leaned his head back onto the rock. "How do you manage it?"

"Jared, have you ever considered that there are something's that you just don't want to keep secret?" Alana frowned, Jared wasn't sure if it was at him or her book.

"What do you mean?" Jared asked.

"Sometimes it seems like when you don't want to keep a secret you just decide not to." Alana set down her book.

    "No way, I mean, why would I want people to know about Connor and I when he said he didn't want people to know about us?" Jared demanded. 

    "Duh." Alana raised her eyebrows at him. "You want people to know about you and Connor now that you're together, simple. But, when Evan asked who you made the card for, you lied and said it was for me. You're able to keep a lie when it's convenient."

"Ev told you about the card thing?" Jared's mouth went dry.

"That's beside the point, why don't you go and tell Connor that you want people to know you're in a relationship instead of going along with whatever he says." Alana picked up her book and continued where she left off. "Go on, I'm being serious, go talk to him."

A bit stunned, Jared picked himself off the ground and began to head back to the cabin.

Was it true? Did he really purposely tell the truth?

    After a couple minutes of walking, Jared found himself at the cabin once more. Slowly, he opened the door to find-

    No one.

    The fuck?

    Jared stood in the doorway, confused. Where the hell did his boyfriend go? 

     Jared decided against going to search for him. After all, he had to come back eventually, their curfew was nine.

    Connor did not come back eventually. Not after Evan arrived, saying he hadn't seen Connor since he stormed off. Not even after the clock struck nine.

    "Where is he?" Jared paced back and forth across the cabin. "Why isn't he back yet?"

    "Should we tell a councilor?" Evan suggested.

    "No, then he'll get in trouble." Jared stopped, staring at the door. "We're just gonna have to go look for him."

    "But, that's against the rules." Evan panicked. "Jared, let's go tell a councilor-"

    "Do you want him to be even angrier at you than he already is!" Jared glared at him. "Let's go." Jared headed towards the door as Evan scrambled to put his shoes on.

    The two boys quietly made their way through the darkness, each holding flashlights that they didn't dare turn on in fear that they'd get caught.

    "Where would he be?" Evan whispered.

    "I dunno, I guess let's check by the water first." Jared suggested, not bothering to whisper.

    They didn't find him there, or by the cafeteria, the bonfire pit, the volleyball court, the field, or even the rock formation.

Exhausted, the two finally retired to the cabin to take a break and come up with a new plan. When they stepped in, they found Connor in his pajamas, laying in bed and waiting for them.

"Where have you guys been?" Connor asked.

"Looking for you!" Jared bit his lip. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I hung out at the beach for awhile and then I decided to take a shower because I was so sandy, relax." Connor huffed. "You don't need to know where I am all the time." Jared felt a tear drip down his face.

"That's not fair, Connor." More tears forced their way out. "I was worried, I thought you might've been hurt."

Connor blinked at him, surprised.

"I didn't mean to make you worry." Connor said softly, climbing off his bed and making his way over to Jared.

Nobody paid much attention to Evan, who stripped himself of his clothes, changed into pajamas, and crawled into bed. He was out like a light within minutes.

"I'm sorry that everybody knows we're together." Jared hugged Connor, burying his face in the taller boy's chest.

"Well, Alana doesn't know." Connor added.

There was silence from Jared.

"Okay, everybody knows." Connor sighed, petting Jared's hair. "Jare, I'm sorry I made you worry. I didn't mean to."

"I love you, Connor." Jared mumbled quietly.

"I love you too, Jare." Connor breathed, giving Jared a peck on the cheek before breaking the hug. "Now, go change into your pajamas."

So, Jared threw on a pair of pajamas that had tiny Jolteons, Flareons, and Vaporeons all over them. 

"Jared, do you wanna sleep in my bed tonight?" Connor asked, looking Jared up and down and seemingly admiring him.

"Hell yeah." Jared's eyes lit up. "Are you serious?"

"Hell yeah." Connor mocked, jumping onto the top bunk. "Get up here, shorty." Jared beamed and scrambled up the ladder to hopped into the bed, curling up next to Connor.

"Aw, we're sleeping together." Jared winked.

"Hush, don't ruin it." Connor chuckled, pulling the blankets over them.

"Hush, I'm trying to sleep." Jared grinned, pressing himself against Connor. 

The two quieted down and soon Jared could feel Connor's breathing even out. Though Jared was absolutely exhausted from the long day, he almost didn't want to fall asleep.

Connor sighed and shifted in his sleep to nuzzle closer to Jared. 

Jared lazily smiled, feeling the fuzziness of sleep overcome him.

Hopefully there would be many more of these experiences to come.


	13. Stud-Muffin

    The next morning the boys' alarm went off at 6:00, like usual. 

    Except this morning wasn't usual, as Jared had slept in Connor's bed that night. 

    Waking up next to a still sleeping Connor was the best fucking experience of his entire life, hands down. 

    "When are you guys getting up?" Evan complained, already getting dressed. "We're gonna be late for breakfast." 

    "We're always late for breakfast, accept it, Ev." Jared hopped out of bed and headed for a dresser. Evan stopped and stared at Jared.

    "Jared, are those hickeys?" Evan scrunched up his face. Jared slapped his neck in an awkward attempt to hide them. He felt his face heat up.

    "You can't even talk, I saw you shirtless on Zoe's bed." Jared hissed, angrily grabbing his clothes. Evan nervously glanced up at Connor to see if he was going to say something.

Luckily, Connor was still out cold.

"That's not what it looked like." Evan's ears turned scarlet.

"Oh, please elaborate." Jared couldn't help but smirk. "What is this reasonable explanation of how you were sitting shirtless on the girl you're dating's bed?"

"Well." Evan gulped. "We, um. We, uh."

"You have a way with words, Ev." Jared snorted, pulling on a t-shirt and cargo shorts. "But I'm gonna let you off the hook, we have to get Connor up and I don't think he'd take kindly to your bullshit story." Evan didn't say anything, just shuffled over to put on his shoes, clearly embarrassed.

    Jared reached up to the top bunk and poked Connor. "Hey, get up."

    Connor groaned but otherwise didn't show any other signs of rising.

    "Yo stud-muffin, time to wake up." Jared poked him again.

    This earned a laugh from Connor, "Stud-muffin?" He asked.

"What, you don't like it?" Jared leaned on the bed.

"No, I love it." Connor sat up and stretched.

"Alright, stud-muffin, it's time to get ready." Jared snickered.

"Fine." Connor sighed, jumping off the bed. "Hey, Evan." Evan worriedly looked up from his shoes. "Is Zoe still mad at us?"

    "Kinda." Evan shrugged. "At least, I think so."

"Alright then, so we'll have to make up with her during breakfast." Connor nodded, stepping out of his pajamas.

    "I dunno, she seemed pretty pissed." Jared tried not to look when Connor pulled his shirt off.

    "At you, you're the one who's gotta apologize." Connor snorted, throwing on his clothes.

    "Hey, she's just as mad at you as she is at me." Jared crossed his arms.

    "Are we ready to go-" Evan began.

    "Yeah, yeah." Connor huffed, still staring at Jared. "No way, she's angrier at you because you spilled the beans on her relationship." The grouped headed out the door.

    "But you said that she had no right to hide her relationship from you." Jared argued back.

    "Guys-" Evan sighed.

    "Telling a secret is worse because you violated her trust." Connor cockily raised an eyebrow.

    "Don't give me that bull crap, I didn't break anybody's trust." Jared frowned.

    "Why don't you guys go talk to her about it instead of arguing about something that's opinion!" Evan interjected, rolling his eyes at the two.

    "Shut up, Evan!" Jared and Connor both chimed in unison before giving each other small grins.

    "Glad to see you two bonding over picking on me." Evan grumbled.

    "C'mon, we love you, Ev." Jared caught Evan and pulled him in close so he could roughly dig his knuckles into the boy's scalp. Evan let out a squeak, trying to scramble away. After a couple of seconds, Jared let him go.

    "Well it certainly doesn't feel like it." Evan patted down his hair and rubbed at the new sore spot on his head.

   "That's because you enjoy all that sappy friendship bullshit." Connor snickered. "Go do all your gushy stuff with Zoe."

"I do, that's why we're dating." Evan stuck his tongue out at the two of them.

The three arrived at the cafeteria. Sitting down, Evan took his place to the right of Zoe, while Jared sat on the left and Connor across from her. Alana sat next to Connor, too wrapped up in her book about the solar system to care what everyone else was doing.

"May I help you?" Zoe asked, not glancing up from her tray of food. She scooped cereal up with her left hand and held Evan's hand with the right.

"Well, uh," Connor cleared his throat and awkwardly leaned forward. "About last night-"

"What about it?" Zoe said coldly, sending a shiver down Jared's spine.

"I, I guess I want to say I'm sorry." Connor rubbed at the back of his neck. Zoe looked up from her tray. "So, I'm sorry."

"You've never apologized to me before." Zoe said quietly, slightly nodding her head. "I appreciate it."

"Yeah, well I was a huge dick." Connor chuckled. "I'll try to do it more often."

"I'm also sorry-" Jared added.

"Shut up, Jared!" Connor and Zoe chimed in unison before the whole table burst into laughter. Jared shook his head but laughed along as well.

"Jeez, I can't even apologize without getting harassed." Jared pretended to be hurt.

"You're one to talk." Evan smirked.

"Oh hush, I'm a treat." Jared teased.

"Of course you are." Connor winked at Jared.

"Ewww." Zoe scrunched up her face and kicked Connor under the table. "Don't do that in public."

"If I can't do that, you can't hold your boyfriend's hand." Connor grinned, finishing his food and getting up. Jared followed after him.

"You know, we can hold hands in public now." Jared breathed, glancing down at Connor's hand. Connor nodded, dumping his excess food in the garbage and setting his tray on top, Jared did the same.

"Well, ready to go?" Connor hummed, heading out. "We have a hike today."

Had Connor heard him? 

Jared didn't even care if he had, he reached for Connor's hand and grabbed it, entwining their fingers. Connor didn't pull away or even react at all, he just continued walking.

Jared was fine with that, he was holding Connor Murphy's hand. Jared happily swung their hands as they walked. The two got unusual stared from other campers, but Jared couldn't care less. 

Soon, all the campers were in their groups and Alana was forced to put down her book by Greg because 'you have to take in the scene as you walk, you just can't miss it'.

Jared wasn't even the one reading and he thought that was bullshit.

    They began their scenic route through the woods. Jared was unimpressed, it just felt like he was walking to his cabin, except longer and with more people. 

Jared leaned on Connor’s arm, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“I’m bored, Muffin.” He whined. “Do something interesting.”

“Interesting, huh?” A small smirk crept upon Connor’s mouth.

“Yes, please!” Jared insisted.

“Only for you.” Connor sighed, glancing around before tightly grabbing ahold of Jared and ducking into a bush.

The two sat in the bush until the group was well out of earshot.

“What are we doing?” Jared asked excitedly.

“We’re going on a secret date.” Connor winked.


	14. Mountain Dew

"Secret date?" Jared echoed, his eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Yep." Connor stepped out of the bush and helped Jared out as well. "One catch, you gotta keep it secret."

"You and I both know that it isn't a good idea for me to keep secrets." Jared chuckled, following Connor through the wood.

"Well this time you have to, or else there won't be anymore secret dates." Connor winked, throwing his arm around Jared's shoulders.

"No!" Jared whined, leaning against Connor as they walked. 

"You haven't even told the secret and you're protesting." Connor snickered.

"Because I know I will and I want there to be tons of secret dates." Jared sighed. Connor rolled his eyes and laughed.

    "Alright, dork, let's go." Connor pulled Jared by his hand, leading him through the woods.

"Do you know where you're going?" Jared asked, stumbling behind Connor, who always seemed to forget that Jared had short legs and wasn't as fast as him.

"Yep." Connor simply replied.

"Well, then are you going to murder me when we get there?" Jared scrunched up his face, they were in a portion of the forest he'd never seen before.

"Maybe." Connor chuckled, but he felt Jared's uneasiness and quickly corrected himself. "Fuck no, why would I want to murder you?"

"You could secretly hate me and be pretending that you're my boyfriend for laughs." Jared said miserably.

"God, you really are dramatic. If I hated you, trust me, you would know." Connor grinned, stopping so he could give Jared a quick kiss on the cheek. "Who knew the cool and uncaring bit was just a facade?" He teased, turning around again and continuing to walk.

"It's not a facade!" Jared squeaked, hurrying after him.

"It is, because you are one of the biggest worriers I know." Connor grinned. "However, half of your worrying would go away if you just kept secrets."

"Listen here-" Jared began when Connor stopped suddenly, making Jared run into his back and bounce off, landing on his butt on the ground. "Ow."

"Sorry." Connor bent down and helped Jared up. "Here we are." Jared looked around at the clearing, he saw nothing special about it except that it had a large stump in the middle.

    "So, you've taken me to a stump?" Jared asked, clearly sounding disappointed. Connor smacked him on the back of the head.

    "No, dickwad." He huffed, walking over to the stump. Jared followed behind him. As they got closer Jared spotted a basket behind the bench that he hadn't noticed before. 

    "Is that a picnic basket?" Jared asked, sitting on the stump.

    "Yes, and you're sitting on our table." Connor snickered. Jared quickly scrambled off and sat on the ground.

    "How did you get this all prepared?" Jared asked, confused. He had randomly asked Connor to do something exciting, so where did the basket come from?

    "Well, I was actually planning on sneaking away during lunch to have a picnic but you're just impatient." Connor sat on the other side of the stump and began to unpack the basket.

    "What lovely food did you steal for me today?" Jared leaned his elbows on the stump, trying to peer inside.

    "Actually, I stole the ingredients. The food I made myself." Connor bragged, pulling out two turkey sandwiches.

"Oh wow." Jared said sarcastically, taking one of the sandwiches. "You are quite the chef, Connor Murphy."

    "Shut up and appreciate my sandwiches, god." Connor huffed, passing Jared a sandwich. 

    "They are lovely." Jared said sincerely, leaning across the stump to plant a kiss on Connor's cheek. "Thank you, muffin." 

    "You're welcome, dickwad." Connor grinned stupidly, a faint blush appeared on his face. He continued to rifle through the basket. Jared took a bite of the turkey sandwich and was surprised to find that it was excellent, considering where Connor had gotten his ingredients.

    "I have a special surprise for you." Connor pulled out a can of Mountain Dew and tossed in to Jared. "I made you hurry up and drink your other Mountain Dew, so think of it as I'm repaying you."

    "Holy hell, how did you get this?" Jared marveled over the can of Mountain Dew, something he'd never thought he'd do.

    "Well apparently the councilors can leave the camp in their free time, and one of them has a particular taste for Mountain Dew, so I snuck into the councilor cabin and went into the refrigerator, they have a fridge in their cabin, and grabbed a couple." Connor shrugged.

    "You snuck into the councilors cabin!" Jared exclaimed, almost dropping the can. "But even more importantly, they have a fridge in their cabin!"

    "I know, right." Connor smirked, grabbing another can of Mountain Dew for himself and opening it. Jared opened his own and lifted it into the air.

    "Cheers!" Jared and Connor clinked their cans together and took a sip.

    God, he'd missed sugar.

    "Jare, slow down, you're gonna make yourself sick." Connor warned. "You haven't had that kinda sugar in over a month, you'll be bouncing off the walls."

    There was no stopping Jared now, his head was fully tilted back as he tried to suck the last few drops from the can.

    "You have another one?" Jared set the can down on the stump and looked at Connor, his eyes wide.

    "Nuh-uh." Connor shook his head. "At this rate you'll kill yourself."

"I've been starved of sugar for too long, gimme." Jared reached for the basket.

"Jare, no." Connor held the basket out of Jared's reach. Jared opted to climbed over the stump and onto Connor to try and get the basket.

"Seriously?" Connor laughed, setting the basket down behind him and wrapping his arms around Jared. "You thought this was a good idea?"

"I'm empowered by sugar, no mortal can stop me now." Jared squirmed in Connor's arms, trying to reach the basket.

"Hey genius, I also drank a Mountain Dew." Connor pointed out, holding on tighter as Jared writhed. "Plus, I'm way stronger than you."

"You are not!" Jared began to kick harder. In retaliation, Connor moved his hands down to Jared's sides and gently began to tickle.

"Connor!" Jared let out a loud squeal and threw his face down onto Connor's shoulder, laughing loudly. "No!"

"Not so cocky now, are you?" Connor grinned, watching his boyfriend squeal and laugh.

"Please, Con!" Jared managed to gasp between laughs. "Please!" 

"Only because you asked so nicely." Connor teased, stopping and planting a kiss on the side of Jared's head. Jared lay limply on Connor, panting for breath and let out a couple stray laughs.

"You're such a jerk, I just wanted more Mountain Dew." Jared nuzzled against Connor's neck.

"Sucks, because I don't even have anymore with me." Connor smirked.

"Then why the hell did you let me fight you for it!" Jared groaned, looking up at Connor.

"Cause it was cute." Connor gave him a kiss on the nose. "Let's pack up before they miss us."


	15. Light Pink Lipstick

Nobody had even noticed Connor and Jared's absence, which Jared appreciated but also found, concerning?

    They had trekked all the way back to the cafeteria, where everyone else was just beginning lunch.

    "Wasn't that hike interesting!" Alana ran up to them. Obviously she hadn't noticed that they had disappeared halfway through. Connor gave Jared a look as if to tell him to keep his damn mouth shut. 

    "Yeah, it was pretty cool, I guess." Connor shrugged.

    "But it's the weirdest thing, now my legs are all itchy?" Alana held her leg out, showing Jared and Connor a large rash forming there. Jared gritted his teeth, making a disgusted face. 

    "That doesn't look good." Jared tried to shield his eyes.

    "It looks like poison ivy?" Connor leaned in, examining it.

    "If I stepped in poison ivy, everyone did, we were all following the same trail and I never go off trail." Alana blinked. "Besides, you two don't have it, so that means I couldn't have a poison ivy rash."

     Jared glared at Connor, begging him to let him say where they had actually been. Connor shook his head slightly.

    "Maybe you should go see the nurse, Zoe could go with you." Connor suggested. "Seriously, that thing needs to be checked out."

    "Oh! Speaking of which, Zoe is looking for you, Connor." Alana pushed her glasses up on her face. "Would you mind coming with me, Jared?"

    Connor gave a small groan and stalked off to find Zoe, leaving Alana and Jared alone.

    "Connor and I snuck off to have a secret date which is why you most likely have poison ivy." Jared blurted out.

    Wow, nice save.

    "You really need to work on keeping secrets." Alana smirked, starting to head to the nurse's office.

    "I know." Jared sighed, hanging his head as he walked beside Alana. "Please don't tell Connor I told you."

    "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me, a person who actually knows how to keep a secret." Alana teased him.

“Thanks, ‘Lana.” Jared cracked a smile.

The two arrived at the nurse’s cabin and Alana got some sort of medicine for her rash. They then decided to head to the girls’ cabin, as they figured that was where Connor and Zoe would be.

They were half right, Zoe was there, sitting on her bed and seemingly journaling.

“Hey, girl.” Jared smirked, throwing himself on Zoe’s bed.

“Get your greasy self off my bed.” Zoe prodded Jared with her foot.

“Only if you get your greasy boyfriend out of my cabin.” Jared snickered.

“What did you have to talk to Connor about?” Alana asked Zoe, who was ignoring Jared’s comment.

“I just had to ask him something.” Zoe shrugged, setting her journal on her dresser. “A better question is, why did you bring this idiot here?”

“Hey, this idiot happens to be your future brother-in-law, so watch it.” Jared winked.

“I’m telling Connor you said that.” Zoe grinned evilly.

“No!” Jared squeaked, sitting up. 

“Why not, you’re so determined that it’s going to happen-“ Zoe began.

“Please don’t!” Jared begged. “I don’t want to scare him off!”

“Fine, I won’t tell him if-“ Zoe looked around the room, thinking. “You let Alana and I give you a makeover.” 

Jared paused, thinking it over for a second.

On the one hand, Connor and Evan might laugh at him. On the other hand, that sounded fucking awesome.

“Sure.” Jared said slowly, receiving beaming looks from both Alana and Zoe.

“I’ll grab my makeup bag-“ Alana ran over to her dresser.

“Mine’s under here-“ Zoe reached under her bed and pulled out a very large bag.

Jared was already regretting his choice.

Soon, the two girls had gathered all their makeup items. Jared hadn’t even known that this much makeup existed. 

Alana and Zoe then began to talk about the make up, which sounded a bit like this to Jared:

“I’m going to rub this weird flesh-colored stick on your face and then pat it with my fingers.” Zoe said-ish.

And then Alana was kind of like:

“Oh! I want to be the one to force Jared to keep his eye open while I almost poke him in the eye, but not quite.” 

Jared truly had a talent of tuning out.

Either way, it took forever for the two to do his makeup. Jared was sincerely beginning to rethink every girl he’s ever seen. Did it always take this long to look that way?

After what felt like ages to Jared, Zoe told him they just had one more thing to do.

“What color of lipstick do you want?” Zoe asked, showing him a large variety of colors.

“He’d look good in a natural color.” Alana noted.

“How about that one?” Jared pointed at a lighter pink.

“Sure, it’s cute!” Zoe grabbed the lipstick and made Jared pucker his lips so she could put it on.

Alana and Zoe applied the finishing touches and backed away from Jared to admire their work.

“He looks adorable!” Alana squealed, running for her dresser again. “I need to find my disposable camera!”

“Connor definitely needs to see this!” Zoe beamed, reaching forward to brush the hair out of Jared’s face.

“Smile, Jared!” Alana said as she clicked the button on her camera. Jared stuck his tongue out and flipped her off. “Jared! My parents are going to see these!”

“Come on, let’s go show the boys!” Zoe beamed, grabbing Jared’s arm and dragging him out the door. Alana followed on her heels.

Truth be told, Jared actually didn’t mind wearing make up, he thought it would definitely be cute for everyday use if he toned it down a bit.

Soon Alana and Zoe had dragged him the entire length of the walk from the girls’ cabin to the boys’. 

Without bothering to knock, they flung open the door to the cabin to see Connor and Evan sitting on Evan’s bottom bunk, seemingly in the middle of a conversation.

Jared felt his face heat up and immediately wanted to wipe the makeup from his face. He didn’t know why he had agreed to this.

“Hey Zoe-“ Evan began before catching sight of Jared. His jaw dropped in awe.

“Look what we did to Jared!” Alana pushed Jared forward slightly. 

Jared’s eyes were focused on Connor, waiting to see his reaction. Connor’s eyes went wide for a minute before he burst into laughter, causing everyone else to erupt into laughter as well.

Jared wanted to curl up into a ball and die. Usually Jared was the one making the joke, he wasn’t used to being the joke. He lightly laughed along, waiting for an opportunity to dash out and wipe his face clean.

He really should’ve known the makeup would be a joke to everyone, that’s why Zoe made the deal with him. 

Jared couldn’t hold up his fake laughter anymore. Feeling tears well up in his eyes as everyone continued to laugh at him, Jared turned on his heel and ran out of the cabin.


	16. Make Up Over Makeup

Jared tried to wipe the makeup off as he ran, but only succeeded in smearing his lipstick across his face and hand. Behind him, he heard the cabin door open and close.

"Jared?" Connor called, bounding after him.

God, Jared definitely didn't want to be around Connor right now. Not when he was crying and smearing his makeup all over his face. He didn't turn back, but continued to run away, hoping Connor would lose him.

   "Jare!" Connor fretted, catching up to him.

    Damn, he forgot how long Connor's legs were. 

    Jared stopped, letting Connor fully catch up with him. He quickly tried to fix himself up before Connor got a good look at him, but he was too far gone. Red lipstick was smeared across his cheeks and streaks of mascara were trailing down his face from where he had been crying. Connor stared down at Jared, who was staring down at his shoes.

    "What's wrong, Jare?" Connor asked softly, reaching a hand out to cup Jared's cheek. Jared pulled Connor's hand away, now it was covered in powdery makeup.

    Jared didn't say anything. He didn't know what either of them could even say to make him feel better right now.

    "Jared?" Connor lightly drew his hand back, biting his lip.

    "It's nothing, I just gotta clean my face, okay?" Jared crossed his arms.

    "Yeah, you kinda smeared your makeup." Connor chuckled.

    Jared didn't laugh.

    "Er, well, can I help you?" Connor asked, watching Jared worriedly.

    "No, it's fine, I don't need help." Jared looked up at Connor. "You can go back to the cabin now."

    Connor looked like he wanted to argue, but could clearly see that Jared was upset. He simply nodded, turning around to head back to the cabin.

    "So you can continue to laugh." Jared mumbled under his breath, beginning to head to the bathrooms.

    Connor froze, turning back to Jared. "What did you say?"

    "Nothing!" Jared glanced back at him.

    "Jared!" Connor stalked over to him. "You can't be all pissy and not tell me what's wrong!"

    Tears began to form again in Jared's eyes as he stared at Connor. Soon, they were spilling down his face.

    "It's just, you all laughed at me." Jared's voice trembled as he spoke. His tears picked up the powdery makeup on his cheeks, creating more streaks.

    "Jare." Connor's voice softened and he drew Jared into a hug. "It's okay, we weren't trying to make you feel bad."

    "I'm just a joke to everyone." Jared tried to keep his face away from Connor's shirt. "No one takes anything I do seriously."

    "Jared, babe." Connor couldn't help but grin, he knew why Jared was getting so upset over this.

    Teenage angst.

    Of course, Connor would never say that to Jared. That would just make him more upset and he definitely didn't want to do that.

    "If you told me that you wanted to wear makeup everyday, seriously, I wouldn't laugh at you." Connor hummed, stroking Jared's hair. "We were laughing at Alana's and Zoe's attempt to give you a makeover."

    "Really?" Jared sniffed, wiping more makeup off his face in an attempt to wipe away tears.

    "Hell yeah, have you looked in the mirror?" Connor chuckled. "Jare, blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick do not go together."

    He had a point.

    Jared slowly nodded, still clinging to Connor. "Yeah, I guess."

    "If done properly, you would look gorgeous in makeup." Connor hummed, using his shirt to wipe Jared's face. Jared melted, letting Connor clean him up. 

    "Yeah, you're right." Jared said softly.

    "Of course I am, let's go to the bathroom and clean this off, okay?" Connor took Jared's hand.

Connor lead Jared to the bathroom and they completely got the makeup off of Jared’s face. They then headed back to the cabin.

“Thanks.” Jared swung their hands as they walked. “You’re a great boyfriend.”

“I never thought I would hear that.” Connor gave Jared’s hand a squeeze. “I love you, Jare.”

“I love you too, muffin.” Jared hummed.

They arrived at the cabin and Connor opened the door for Jared, who nervously slipped in. 

Seeing people who just saw you cry is awkward.

“Hey!” Alana squealed as they walked in.

“Jared!” Evan beamed.

God, Jared hated when people are nice because he was just crying.

“Hi.” Jared awkwardly waved, heading over to the group and flopping down on the bottom bunk of Evan’s bed. Connor sat beside him, his arm wrapped around Jared’s waist.

“We need a second opinion on this, do queen ants really fly?” Zoe asked.

“Yes, I’ve told you this, but you refuse to believe me for some reason.” Alana sighed, taking her glasses off and cleaning them. “I learned this in my environmental science class.”

“I’m going with ‘Lana on this, she seems to know what she’s talking about.” Jared shrugged.

“I do.” Alana said flatly, putting her glasses back on and pushing them up.

“Oh hush.” Zoe grabbed Evan’s pillow and playfully hit Alana in the side of the head with it, knocking her glasses to the floor.

“I just cleaned those!” Alana snatched up her glasses and grabbed Evan’s second pillow, this was a fluffy light blue, and smacked Zoe with it.

“Hell yeah I’m gonna join in on this.” Jared ran to his own bunk and snatched up his own pillow, which didn’t even have a pillow case.

Soon, everyone had a pillow and was beating the hell out of each other. Connor was head to head with Alana, who was surprisingly nimble. Jared and Zoe had cornered Evan and were taking turns hitting him with their pillows as Evan shrieked. 

Connor and Alana called a truce and Connor snuck up behind Jared, catching him by the waist and making him drop his pillow, which Evan quickly picked up so he could defend himself against Zoe.

“Hey, I was doing something!” Jared squirmed in Connor’s grip, trying to break free.

“Not anymore.” Connor smirked, kissing the top of Jared’s head. “I gotta make sure my boyfriend doesn’t get into too much trouble.”

“I wanna get into trouble!” Jared squealed.

“Nah.” Connor snickered. “Besides, look.”

Jared glanced up to see Evan and Zoe kissing only a few feet away from where they were. He scrunched up his face.

“Eww, get a room!” He called. Connor laughed and picked Jared off the ground, carrying him fireman style. Jared squeaked, kicking his legs. “What are you doing!”

“You’re making too much trouble.” Connor grinned. “I gotta get you out of everyone’s way.”

“Fine with me, I get an exceptional view of your butt from here.” Jared chuckled.

“See? That’s what I’m talking about.” Connor pretended to almost drop him, making Jared flail his hands around stupidly. “You’re a troublemaker.”

“Ah, but I’m your troublemaker.” Jared beamed.

“Yeah, you definitely are.”


	17. Touchy

    Connor carried Jared out of the cabin, Alana on their heels. 

"Hey, where are you going?" Alana asked, catching up and walking next to Connor, who still had Jared dangling awkwardly over his shoulder.

"Figured we'd give them some privacy." Connor shrugged before his eyes went sharp. "Giving they don't go any further than kissing."

"Aw, so you're okay with their relationship now?" Alana asked.

"Is everyone ignoring I exist? 'Cause I'm right here." Jared kicked his legs lightly.

"Hush, trust me, we all know you're there, you hardly shut up." Connor smirked. "Anyways, I guess, I mean, what's the worst damage Evan can do? If anything she'd break him."

"Definitely, so I guess it'll be my job to make sure Evan doesn't get hurt." Alana agreed, glancing at Jared, who stuck his tongue out at her.

"When can I be put down?" Jared had given up squirming a long time ago and now was just laying limply, at least this way was more comfortable. "All of my blood is rushing to my face and I'm concerned about my health."

"You're fine, you big wuss." Connor snickered. "Besides, we're almost there."

    "Almost where?" Jared and Alana asked in unison, both genuinely confused. Jared had thought they were just taking a walk.

    "Duh, I brought us to the arts and crafts center." Connor said as they arrived at the picnic table. It hardly could be called a center at all. 

    The kids who were previously using it obviously hadn't cleaned up, as glue, scissors, and paper was strewn across it. 

    Connor gave a small groan before lifting Jared off of his shoulder and setting him down on the bench. Jared looked up at him in awe.

   "How strong are you?" He demanded, getting up from the bench and reaching for Connor's arm.

    "I dunno, I was looking for blow off classes this year and weights didn't seem too hard, so I registered." Connor let Jared feel his biceps, then his triceps, then even his chest-

    "I don't mean to interrupt a groping session, but unless I can join in too, I don't want to see this." Alana teased.

    "You can feel if you want-" Connor started, but he was cut off by Jared clinging to him, pouting. "Apparently not, as my boyfriend seems to have an issue with that." 

    "He's all yours." Alana laughed, taking a seat at the picnic table. Connor smiled and took a seat too. Jared, the stubborn fuck that he knew he was, sat down on Connor's lap, making Connor turn a deep shade of red.

    Jared quite liked that he could do that to him.

    "Jare, as nice as this is, Alana just told us off for being all touchy." Connor let out a nervous laugh as his hands slid to Jared's waist.

"Mmhm." Alana rolled her eyes playfully. "How nice it must be to be in love."

"I honestly still can't believe you chose MY lap to sit on, I'm honored." Connor grinned, tugging Jared back more by his waist.

    "You should be, I'm a fucking delight." Jared hummed, leaning back against Connor, who tilted his head so he could kiss at the back of Jared's neck.

    "Oh, look at the time, I ought to be heading out." Alana plucked herself from the bench and began to head back to her cabin. "Have fun! Don't get into too much trouble!" With that, she trotted off.

   "Look, you scared her away." Connor chuckled, continuing to press kisses to Jared's neck.

    "I scared her away?" Jared argued. "You were one who was kissing me."

"Still am, if you care to notice." Connor snorted, sucking on a spot.

"Hey, you're going to give me hickeys." Jared swatted at Connor. "I don't need that, people stare."

"Let them." Connor sighed.

"I don't wanna." Jared said stubbornly, leaning forward so Connor couldn't kiss at him anymore. Connor let out a whine, trying to follow him.

"Connor!" Jared laughed, sliding off of his lap. 

"Jared!" Connor mocked, standing up after him. 

"You're such a dork." Jared leaned forward, staring up at Connor.

"Well you're such a dickwad." Connor smirked back at him. Jared reached his hands up and pulled Connor down for a kiss. Connor's hands made their way down to Jared's hips.

    They stayed this way for several minutes, hardly stopping for breath. When they finally did, Jared leaned on Connor, who gladly supported him.

    "You think Ev and Zoe are done in the cabin yet?" Jared asked.

    "I hope so, two people can't kiss for that long, can they?" Connor brushed the Jared's hair out of his face so he could see his eyes.

    "I could." Jared smiled, taking Connor's hand. "Let's go."

    After a couple minutes of walking, they made it back to the cabin. Luckily, when they arrived they found Zoe, Evan, and Alana, all not kissing, sitting on Evan’s bed.

“Took you long enough, you two lovers ready for dinner?” Zoe asked.

“You’re one to talk.” Jared snickered, giving Evan an over exaggerated wink.

“Jared!” Evan’s ears turned scarlet.

“Let’s go, I’m hungry.” Alana hopped off the bed and began to itch at her legs, which were still red and irritated.

Jared wondered if Poison Ivy can spread through bed sheets.

Putting that thought from his mind, Jared took Connor’s hand. The whole made the tiring walk down the the shitty cafeteria, which was serving grilled cheese, which was good except the cheese hadn’t melted properly.

Jared grabbed his tray and slumped down in a seat, Connor slumping down in the seat next to him and beginning to pick at his food. 

“Hey, Con?” Jared asked, dipping his grilled cheese in his soup.

“Yeah?” Connor grunted, hardly looking up from his tray.

“I was just wondering.” Jared began, fiddling with his silverware.

“Yeah?” Connor repeated, more interested this time.

“If you- never mind, now’s not the place for this.” Jared shook his head. Connor eyed him wearily for a second, considering if he should prompt Jared more.

“Okay.”


	18. Fun and Games

Weeks passed, and soon Jared found that it was the last week of camp. Though he was ecstatic to have his electronics and Mountain Dew back, that also meant he wouldn't get to be with Connor as much. A lot of questions had been running through Jared's head as he thought about what their life would be like when they got back. Is Connor openly gay? Does Jared want to come out to his parents?

Jared's stomach twisted with uncertainty as he sat on the grass just outside the cafeteria. Connor sat on his left, his arm faithfully wrapped around Jared's waist, and Alana sat on his right, eagerly listening to Greg.

"Alright everyone! This is going to be our last contest as groups!" He sighed and wiped away a fake tear. "We're going to have the Camp Olympics!"

The campers scoffed and murmurs spread across the crowd.

"Your team will be competing in races and activities, and the team with the most points at the end is the winner!" Greg beamed. "There is going to be one category for each day, Today is Arts and Crafts, tomorrow is long-distance hiking, Wednesday is swimming, Thursday is racing, and Friday is an obstacle course. First place is five points, Second is four points, and so on! The winners will also be announced Friday and then you'll all pack up and leave Saturday."

"This is so dumb." Jared muttered, before glancing at Connor, whose eyes had lit up. Uh oh, last time he had looked like that was at the scavenger hunt. Jared looked over at Zoe, who held the same competitive look in her eye.

"The first competition is today at noon, so choose who on your team is doing what." Greg announced, clapping his hands and officially ending the meeting. 

They got into their group and began to discuss who would participate in which activity. Besides Jared, Alana and of course Connor, only one girl in their group wanted to participate. They let that girl do long-distance hiking and began to argue over who was doing the rest.

"I want to do the obstacle course and racing." Connor said firmly.

"No fucking way! Then the only things left are arts and crafts and swimming." Jared argued back.

"I want to do arts and crafts." Alana interjected.

"Then all that's left is swimming, I can't swim!" Jared pouted.

"Ugh, fine. You can do racing, but I'm definitely doing the obstacle course." Connor sighed, crossing his arms and eyeing the others, as if daring them to object.

"Alright, it's settled!" Alana beamed and the group broke off. Zoe, tugging Evan behind her, strutted up to the group, a large grin on her face.

"Which category are you guys doing?" She demanded.

"I'm doing arts and crafts, Jared's doing racing, and-" Alana started.

"What are you doing?" Connor stared at Zoe.

"I'm doing the obstacle course and Evan is doing the long-distance hike." She replied proudly. A smirk crept upon Connor's face.

"Hm, I'm doing the obstacle course too." Connor said, his voice not giving away any emotion. The two siblings glared at each other for a couple seconds, Evan shrank behind Zoe.

"Good." Zoe said simply.

A couple hours later, the first event of the week was beginning. Alana looked ready to kill anyone that got in the way of her grabbing construction paper. Which frankly, was way more badass than it sounded.

"Alright, you can do it 'Lana." Jared said, giving her a pat on the back as she took her seat at the table. The other contestants were already at their seats, waiting for instructions.

"Beat the crap out of the other teams, throw some punches if you have to." Connor told her. Jared wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"Alright, everyone!" Greg clapped his hands to get everybody's attention. "We're about to begin!" 

All the campers went silent, Jared and Connor backed away from the table.

"We're about to begin the very first event of the Camp Olympics!" Greg cheered, nobody joined in with him. "Campers, your first challenge is to create the quickest origami swan. Mind you, it also needs to be neat and correctly made. Start..." Everyone watched him, waiting for permission to grab paper. "Now!"

The kids all scrambled to grab paper and began folding with nimble fingers. Origami swans aren't too hard to make if you know the process, the trick is doing it the fastest. Alana, ever good at whatever she does, quickly finished and presented her swan.

"Done!" She beamed.

"Ooh! It seems we have a winner!" Greg made his way over to Alana and examined her swan. "Very nice, young lady! I certainly think you deserve this." He pulled a small, gold plastic badge from his pocket. "Congratulations on our first place winner!"

He then proceeded to hand out the other places, but Jared didn't pay attention to that, they had won first place! Connor and Jared ran up to Alana, giving hugs and congratulations. 

"I won, I won!" Alana displayed her badge proudly to them. Behind him he vaguely heard that Zoe's team had gotten third.

Well good, that meant that the were beating them by two points, 5/3. It was a good start. 

"We just gotta keep this up and we can be the winners!" Connor took Jared's hand. Jared leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek.

    "Of course we will be." Jared assured him. Connor let go of his hand and ran off to go brag to Zoe.

    Jared watched from afar, frowning. Was Connor really this set on always winning? What did that mean for the two of them? 

    Jared still hadn't gotten around to asking Connor what he had wanted to, and was frankly too scared to at this point.

    He shook his head and ran over to the group, smiling and playing along with their antics as they teased each other.

    Jared erased all doubts from his mind for now.


	19. Get Ready

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, I’m starting to wrap up his story, makes me sad :( I think there’ll be one more chapter after this.

    The next was the long-distance hiking. Jared and Connor were laying in the grass, watching everyone prepare. Alana and Jared were purposely distancing Connor from the girl that was doing the hike, they were afraid he might yell at her or something.

    "Is she ready? Should I go find her?" Connor asked, looking around urgently.

    "She's fine, Alana's taking care of her. Now, I need you to put some sunscreen on, you're going to burn up." Jared got out a tube on sunscreen and delicately began to apply some onto Connor's arms and legs.

    "Are you sure though?" Connor sighed, not paying attention to Jared. "She can't be late."

    "I'm sure, it'll be fine." Jared told him, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Sure enough, soon Zoe and the girl showed up to the starting line. Alana seemed to give the girl some reassurances before heading over to Jared and Connor.

    "She better do well." Connor grumbled, tugging Jared into his lap so he could kiss at the back of Jared's neck. Jared hummed, getting comfortable in Connor's lap and watching as the long distance hikers started off. Zoe walked up to them.

    "Sup guys." She said, flopping down in the ground between Alana and Connor. 

    "Hi! I'm so excited to see how Evan does, I bet he he's great at this type of thing." Alana grinned, leaning on Zoe slightly.

    "Yeah, he is. He said he's been hiking for years." Zoe looked over at Connor, giving him a smug smirk. Connor gritted his teeth.

    "Evan's also been tripping on his shoe laces for years." Connor simply said, turning his attention back to Jared. Jared noticed he was much rougher with his kisses this time, even adding a few bites here and there. He must've been angry. 

    So, they all waited for the hikers to reappear from the woods.

    and waited...

    and waited...

     Until finally, it had been two hours since they disappeared into the wood. Everyone was restless and bored and tired of watching nothing. Slowly, the other groups began to vanish to their cabins or to the beach. However, Connor and Zoe refused to leave, much to Jared's and Alana's protests.

    "Muffinnn, I'm bored." Jared whined, shoving his face into the crook of Connor's neck as he tugged on Connor's sweatshirt.

    "It's fine Jared, you can go." Connor ruffled Jared's hair gently.

    Just as Jared was leaving, a person emerged from the woods. Everyone stood up, running to see who it was.

    "Evan, you did it!" Zoe squealed, wrapping her arms around the boy's neck and pulling him in for a celebratory kiss. Evan, as tired as he looked, seemed to perk up a bit. Connor bit his lip, clenching his fists in anger. Jared decided to steer clear of Connor until he cooled off. 

    In the end, their girl ended up getting fourth place, which meant that Zoe's team was one point ahead of Connor's. Connor ended up cornering the girl and chewing her out, to which Jared chewed Connor out for yelling at the girl. Connor disappeared to the cabin the sulk, and Jared left him alone. 

     The next day was the swimming competition, much to Connor's delight. Connor didn't like to depend on others to win, he liked doing it himself. 

    Jared sat on the beach in his swimming trunks and watched Connor warm up. Connor had refused to let Jared into the water and had insisted he stay safe on the shore. Jared had pouted and whined and insisted that he was okay, but had lost that argument when Connor reminded him of the rafting trip.

    "Connor sure is getting worked up about this." Alana sighed as she sat down next to Jared, she was wearing a beautiful yellow sundress with a sun hat.

    "Yeah, he is." Jared said nervously. "I'm almost worried about what would happen if he didn't win."

    "Maybe it'd be good for him." Alana shrugged, watching as the swimmers began to line up. "He could learn that it's not always about winning."

    "I wish he would learn sooner." Jared pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them. "It's our last week at camp and he's hardly paid any attention to me. It makes me wonder if he's just going to dump me after all this, like I was just some summer fling that he never really cared about."

    "Of course Connor cares about you, I've got no doubt about that." Alana scrunched up her face.

    "I wish I could say the same." Just then, the swimmers took off. Connor had an advantage with his long legs, so he quickly pulled ahead. 

    "C'mon, Connor!" Jared cheered, standing up and watching in anticipation. He dearly hoped for both of their sake that Connor won, then the boy would be in a much better mood and maybe he would pay attention to him. 

    Another girl got ahead of Connor at the last minute and Connor ended up getting second place. When he came over to Jared and Alana, though, he was in a good mood. Apparently the boy on Zoe's team got third place, which meant that the two teams were tied.

    "All we have left is the racing and obstacle course, which Jared and I are doing, so it's a sure win." Connor smirked as he wrapped his arm around Jared's neck, tugging him close and digging his knuckled into the boy's scalp.

     "I think you put too much faith in me." Jared tried to tug his head away, but Connor released him.

    "No, because I know you'll do well." Connor beamed at him, and yet, Jared's stomach twisted.

    As Jared stood at the starting line for the race, he looked around nervously. Connor was standing a distance away, arms crossed as he glared at Zoe. 

    Jared prayed he wouldn't let Connor down.

    "Alright, folks! Time to get ready, we'll be starting in a couple of seconds!" Greg called cheerily. Jared attempted to do a couple of stretched beforehand. He happened to catch Alana's eye, and she gave him a thumbs up. It cooled his nerves slightly, but he could still hear his heartbeat in his ears.

    "Get ready,"

    Jared gulped, getting into position. 

    "Get set,"

    He was practically trembling from fear.

    "Go!"

    Jared took off, instantly taking the lead. He was quite nimble from a summer of constant walking and exercise. Though, he had to keep his speed, the others weren't far behind him.

   The boy that was on his heels passed him, and Jared struggled to pick up his pace. He had to win, for Connor. 

    "Jared! Come on!" Connor yelled, and Jared's heart sunk, that wasn't a call of encouragement, Connor sounded mad at him, mad that Jared wasn't winning.

    Jared felt his eyes blur with tears as he tried to continue pushing forward. He just needed to get ahead, he just needed to win for his Connor.

    Jared stumbled on air and fell.


	20. Together

    NOTE: I'm both happy and sad to say this is the last chapter! I've been working hard on this and I'm quite glad with how it's concluded! Hope you enjoyed the story, I had a wonderful time writing it! Don't be afraid to give me suggestions for my next work!

 

    Jared got last. Which wasn't that surprising really, but the important thing was that Zoe's team got third. They were a point ahead, which meant that in order to win, Connor had to beat them by two places in the obstacle course. 

Dear lord, Jared couldn't face Connor. Not like this. He wiped the dirt from his knees and elbows, an unfortunate reminder of his fuck up, and quickly disappeared into the wood. He didn't know exactly where he was going, but he knew that Connor would be upset with him so he didn't dare go back.

    Eventually, Jared arrived at the cabin. It seemed as good as place as any to lay low, so he went inside and curled up on his bed, letting his tears soak into the blanket. He hated this. He hated having emotions, fuck that.

    Jared must've fallen asleep, as he was awoken by footsteps outside. Panicking, Jared stumbled out of bed. He didn't want to have this conversation, not now.

    A second later, Connor burst through the door, mad and upset. "Jesus, fuck!" Connor didn't seem to be aiming this directly at Jared, but in everything in general. Jared sunk down, watching the boy cautiously. 

    "You fucked it up!" Connor tugged on his hair, pacing back and forth. "Jesus fucking Christ, it's all fucked up now!" Jared bit his lip, this definitely wasn't his fault.

    "What? It's all my fault that we're losing?" Jared asked bitterly. "It definitely can't be that you've been putting pressure on everyone on our team when this is supposed to be fun?"

    "Whatever, I don't have to take this from someone who can't even walk right." Connor snapped, turning towards his dresser to grab something.

    "Shut up, you can't even function as a normal human being." Jared mumbled and Connor froze, hand still gripped tightly to the drawer.

    "What the fuck did you just say to me?" Connor shoved at the dresser and walked so he was face to face with Jared, who refused to back down.

    "Do you even care about me?" Jared demanded, begging tears not to come to his eyes. "Am I just some fling you're using to get affection? Where the hell is this going?"

    "No where, apparently." Connor shoved Jared, making the boy tumble to the ground as he stormed off, slamming the door shut behind him.

    Well, Jared got his answer. Still, it didn't feel too good.

    He felt absolutely sick to his stomach as he gently got up from the floor. His knees felt shaky and he could hardly walk. God, he hated that Connor was sort of right about that.

    Alana. Alana could help. That was always Jared's solution. Alana was wise. Alana knew what to do. Yet, when he arrived at the cabin, Alana had no advice.

    "Jared, I just don't know." Alana looked at him with sad eyes as they sat on her bunk.

    "What does that mean? Is this like some test? Am I supposed to fulfill the prophecy myself?" Jared groaned.

    "It seems that the two of you just might not be compatible. It happens sometimes." Alana shrugged. Jared hoped that wasn't true. "He told you that he didn't think your relationship was going anywhere, so you know how he feels about it. If he doesn't love you, there's nothing you can do."

"He loves me." Jared spat back bitterly. "He does love me." Jared tried to reassure himself.

"Okay, just, tread carefully, please?" Alana smiled, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Last thing I need is my friend to get their feelings hurt."

"God, you sound like my therapist."

That night was awkward. Connor didn't speak to Jared and Jared didn't speak to Connor. It was probably most awkward for Evan, who the two occasionally gave passive aggressive phrases to.

"Ev, who do you think left this sock on the floor, it's in my way." Jared pointed at a long black sock that was clearly Connor's.

Evan shifted uncomfortably, glancing over at Connor, "Um, Connor, I think you left your sock on the floor."

Connor snatched it up without a word.

The next day Jared did go to the final event, if only to see his other friends compete. Jared sat on the ground next to Evan and Alana as they watched Zoe stretch and prepare for the course.

"Don't worry, Jared, I'll kick his ass." Zoe teased, giving Jared a wink. Jared snorted, rolling his eyes and catching a glimpse of Connor from across the field.

Jared was upset that even now he was blown away by Connor. The boy wore dark shorts and a gray shirt, which was form fitting. His hair was tied back in a high ponytail.

Dear lord, why can't Jared just hate him. It'd make everything so much easier. Sure, he was pissed as all hell, but he still loved him. It made him ache in his chest when he wondered if Connor really loved him too.

The whistle was blown and everyone lined up in their starting positions. The campers all cheered excitedly for their teams, watching with anticipation. 

"On your mark...get set..."

Everyone sucked in a breath.

"Go!"

They were off, sprinting to the first obstacle, which were monkey bars. With great dexterity, Zoe took the lead, getting across first. Connor wasn't far behind her, pushing forward still.

It was the next obstacle, a mud pit, that Connor was able to pull past Zoe. His long legs seem to hardly get stuck in the thick mud. He hopped out and continued running forward, but when Zoe got out, she was missing a shoe. She didn't go back to search for it, she just tried her best to catch up to Connor.

The last was a tight rope of sorts, except that it was a log suspended a couple feet in the air. Connor climbed up onto it and carefully began to make his way across, one foot after the other. Zoe hopped up next, but as she got to the middle, the mud on her shoe made her slip and fall onto the ground below. 

Jared's eyes widened.

Connor jumped off of the log and ran the the finish line. 

He got first. 

The next team passed the finish line.

Connor won them the Camp Olympics.

Still, no amount of winning could make Jared fine with what had happened the previous day, he kept his distance. Alana and Evan ran to Zoe's aid, making sure she was alright. She was, at most she was a little bit bruised.

Connor stood alone at the finish line, arms crossed and no one around him. 

Jared vaguely wondered what Connor thought winning would entail, did he think that he'd be magically everyone's favorite?

Jared made his way over to Zoe with the others, telling her she did a great job, even if she didn't win. Jared could feel Connor boiling behind him, but he continued to walk with his friends back to the cafeteria for some lunch. 

When Jared arrived back at the cabin to start packing, he found Connor sitting on his bed, face buried in his hands.

Not really feeling like arguing, Jared strutted up to his dresser and began packing, not saying a single word to Connor. After a couple minutes of tense silence, Connor spoke up.

"How are you so well liked?" Connor asked softly, his previous harshness gone. 

"I'm not well liked." Jared snorted simply, wondering how he fit all this stuff into his suitcase in the first place.

"You're more liked than me." Connor replied.

"That's not true-"

"Yes, it is. After I won no one congratulated me, yet if you would've won, you'd have everyone cheering." Connor interjected, his tone not harsh, but not sad, just blank.

"Connor, it's not about winning." Jared sighed, looking up at the boy.

"Then what the fuck is it about?" Connor grew frustrated, digging his hands into his scalp.

"I dunno, friendship? Love? Some other bullshit thing? I don't know why everyone didn't congratulate you, but you would've had me there in the least if you loved me back at all." Jared instantly regretted that last part.

"What?" Connor looked confused, he twisted himself to look at Jared. "What makes you think I don't love you?"

"You don't see a future in our relationship! It's obvious I've been a fun plaything for you this summer, and fuck, I've enjoyed it too, but now we're going back to school and you're just going to dump me and I'll go back to jerking off to my own lonely thoughts like the fucking freak I am." Jared breathed, he knew none of that was really rational, but it was how he felt.

"Jared, I fucking love you so damn much." Connor slid off the bed, his hands shaky as he reached to hug him. "Jesus, Jare, there's nothing I could ever do to deserve you, you're fucking wonderful." Jared let Connor hug him for a while, the two boys calming down slightly.

"Well, I love you too." Jared sniffed, pulling away.

"Fuck yeah I want to be with you when we leave here, it's just, I'm not out in the real world." Connor gave a nervous laugh. "Sure, this secluded, delusional world we've been living is is great, but out there being gay is a statement. I'm going to be hated by certain people, not for who I am, but for something I can't control."

Truthfully, Jared hadn't thought about that. Sure, he worried about telling his parents, but now telling them seemed like the easiest thing in the world.

"Oh." Jared said simply.

"But for you, I'd definitely do it." Connor sucked in a breath.

"Connor, you don't-"

"No, I want to. I most definitely want to be your boyfriend for a long time, and I'll do anything to not lose you, Jare." Connor gave him a light kiss on the head.

"I love you, Con."

"I love you too, Jare."

The next day they were all packed up and ready to leave. They were all waiting near the cafeteria, which had magically transformed back into the registration office.

    "Man, I am not going to miss the food." Jared chuckled, that morning he had had a crusty egg sandwich. Alana in particular was getting teary eyed.

"Our summer is ending!" Alana sniffed. "I'm not going to be able to be around you guys as much with my studying and volunteering and filling out scholarships!"

"Don't worry, at least we're in a lot of the same classes." Evan reminded her.

"Not me, if you think I'm taking Advanced Biology, you've got another thing coming." Jared teased, hugging Connor's arm. It was an unspoken thing in the group to not mention the events of the previous days. They had forgiven Connor, there was no need to bring it up again.

"Besides, we can make sure we all meet up once a month to, I don't know, get ice cream or something." Zoe smiled, she was holding hands with Evan, who had never looked happier. He rested his head on her shoulder and gave a small sigh.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Jared threw his suitcase down on the ground and unzipped it, searching through his clothes.

    "Jared, no one wants to see your dirty underwear." Zoe grinned.

    "Shut up, it's not that, it's this!" He zipped it back up and presented it to Connor. An old, dirty, torn, taped back together and falling apart card that Jared had made for Connor at the start of the summer. Evan picked up his head from Zoe's shoulder, a wide smile spreading across his face.

    Connor gently took the card from Jared and opened it up, tracing his fingers over Jared's poorly drawn hearts. The inside of the letter read:

    Hi Connor!   
   I figured I'd make you a card as I think we're gonna be hanging out a lot. You seem like a pretty cool dude and I think we're going to get along just fine. I look forward to a summer of memories with you!  
    xx Jared

    Connor wrapped an arm around Jared's shoulders, tugging him in for a hug.

    "Fuck, Jare, who gave you the right to be so damn cute?" Connor breathed, pressing kissing to the top of Jared's head. 

    "Just kiss already!" Alana teased, yet Connor followed her advice, drawing Jared into a long, passionate kiss. Finally, they pulled away and both were grinning from ear to ear. 

    "God, why don't you kiss me like that?" Zoe poked at Evan, chuckling. 

    "Now you two have set the bar too high for me." Evan gave Zoe a kiss on the cheek.

    "What can we say, we're just perfect." Jared said as two cars pulled into the driveway.

   Their parents.

    Jared gripped his suitcase and took Connor's hand, stepping forward.

    "Together?" Jared asked.

    "Together." Connor agreed, and with that, they both stepped back into the real world.


End file.
